70th largest plant in Colorado · 3391st nationally
Valmont is a natural gas power plant in Colorado with a nameplate capacity of 59.3 MW. It generates roughly 6.6k MWh per year — enough to power about 629 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 1% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1710 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Valmont |
|---|---|
| Operator | Public Service Co Of Colorado |
| City | Boulder |
| County | Boulder County |
| State | Colorado |
| ZIP | 80302 |
| Coordinates | 40.01950, -105.20200 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Conventional Steam Coal | Bituminous Coal | 192 MW | Retired | 1964 |
| 6 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 59.3 MW | Operating | 1973 |
| CO₂ | 5.7k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 15 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1710 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 | Public Service Company Of Colorado |
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.