883rd largest plant in California · 6394th nationally
University Of California Santa Cruz is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 7.4 MW. It generates roughly 35.9k MWh per year — enough to power about 3,420 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 55% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 674 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | University Of California Santa Cruz |
|---|---|
| Operator | University Of California Santa Cruz |
| City | Santa Cruz |
| County | Santa Cruz County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 95064 |
| Coordinates | 36.99970, -122.06220 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 003 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 4.4 MW | Operating | 2015 |
| 001 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 2.6 MW | Retired | 1985 |
| 246 | Solar Photovoltaic | Solar | 1.8 MW | Operating | 2021 |
| 18027 | Batteries | Battery | 1.0 MW | Operating | 2022 |
| 002 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 0.2 MW | Retired | 1988 |
| 004 | Solar Photovoltaic | Solar | 0.2 MW | Operating | 2013 |
| Owner | Location | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Edpr Ca Solar Park Llc | Houston, TX | 10000.0% |
| Forefront Power, Llc | San Francisco, CA | 10000.0% |
Ownership reported to EIA Form 860. Percentages reflect reported generator-level ownership share, averaged when a plant has multiple generators.
| CO₂ | 12.1k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 33 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 674 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 | WECC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | California Independent System Operator |
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.