56th largest plant in Arizona · 2334th nationally
Valencia is a natural gas power plant in Arizona with a nameplate capacity of 108 MW. It generates roughly 5.7k MWh per year — enough to power about 538 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 1% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1711 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Valencia |
|---|---|
| Operator | Uns Electric, Inc |
| City | Nogales |
| County | Santa Cruz County |
| State | Arizona |
| ZIP | 85621 |
| Coordinates | 31.36347, -110.93134 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 54.0 MW | Operating | 2006 |
| GT1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 18.0 MW | Standby | 1989 |
| GT2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 18.0 MW | Standby | 1989 |
| GT3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 18.0 MW | Standby | 1989 |
| CO₂ | 4.8k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 13 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1711 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 | Tucson Electric Power Company |
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.