38th largest plant in Alabama · 2402nd nationally
Walton Discover Power Facility is a natural gas power plant in Alabama with a nameplate capacity of 103 MW. It generates roughly 195 MWh per year — enough to power about 18 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 0% reflects intermittent or peaking operation.
| Plant Name | Walton Discover Power Facility |
|---|---|
| Operator | Walton Discover Llc |
| City | Smiths |
| County | Lee County |
| State | Alabama |
| ZIP | 36877 |
| Coordinates | 32.54098, -85.03888 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UN1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 51.5 MW | Operating | 1999 |
| UN2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 51.5 MW | Operating | 1999 |
| NOₓ | 1 metric tons |
|---|
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 | SERC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Southern Company Services, Inc. - Trans |
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.