519th largest plant in California · 4087th nationally
Valero Wilmington Cogeneration Plant is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 33.5 MW. It generates roughly 236.7k MWh per year — enough to power about 22,541 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 81% means it runs nearly around-the-clock as baseload generation. At 1103 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Valero Wilmington Cogeneration Plant |
|---|---|
| Operator | Valero Wilmington |
| City | Wilmington |
| County | Los Angeles County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 90744 |
| Coordinates | 33.77866, -118.23853 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 79G1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 33.5 MW | Operating | 2017 |
| CO₂ | 130.5k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 4 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 357 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1103 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 | Los Angeles Department Of Water And Power |
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.