349th largest plant in Texas · 1759th nationally
Union Carbide Seadrift Cogen is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 168 MW. It generates roughly 574.6k MWh per year — enough to power about 54,726 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 39% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 803 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (168 MW nameplate × hours in the month). Filled bars are actual net generation reported to EIA Form 923. The gap between them is capacity factor made visible.
| Plant Name | Union Carbide Seadrift Cogen |
|---|---|
| Operator | Union Carbide Corp-Seadrift |
| City | Seadrift |
| County | Calhoun County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 77983 |
| Coordinates | 28.51050, -96.77060 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GE11 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 35.0 MW | Operating | 2000 |
| GEN6 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 35.0 MW | Operating | 1987 |
| GEN8 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 35.0 MW | Operating | 1987 |
| GE10 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 15.0 MW | Operating | 1964 |
| GEN5 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 15.0 MW | Operating | 1987 |
| GEN9 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 15.0 MW | Operating | 1987 |
| IGT | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 12.0 MW | Operating | 1969 |
| GEN7 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 6.0 MW | Out of Service | 1987 |
| CO₂ | 230.8k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 6 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 586 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 803 lb/MWh |
Annual totals and CO₂ rate reported by EPA eGRID for 2023. Reference averages are approximate U.S.-wide figures from the same dataset.
| NERC Region | TRE |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Electric Reliability Council Of Texas, Inc. |
Natural gas plants are the workhorse of the modern grid. Combined-cycle units achieve very high efficiency and can ramp up and down quickly to balance variable renewables. They emit roughly half the CO₂ per MWh of coal and far less of other pollutants, but they still release upstream methane during fuel extraction.