410th largest plant in California · 3649th nationally
Valero Refinery Cogeneration Unit 1 is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 49.9 MW. It generates roughly 230.1k MWh per year — enough to power about 21,918 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 53% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 608 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Valero Refinery Cogeneration Unit 1 |
|---|---|
| Operator | Valero Refining Co California |
| City | Benicia |
| County | Solano County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 94510 |
| Coordinates | 38.07360, -122.14110 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT 1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 49.9 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| CO₂ | 70.0k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 2 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 192 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 608 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.