33rd largest plant in Alabama · 2171st nationally
Washington County Cogeneration Facility is a natural gas power plant in Alabama with a nameplate capacity of 123 MW. It generates roughly 862.2k MWh per year — enough to power about 82,110 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 80% means it runs nearly around-the-clock as baseload generation. At 608 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (123 MW nameplate × hours in the month). Filled bars are actual net generation reported to EIA Form 923. The gap between them is capacity factor made visible.
| Plant Name | Washington County Cogeneration Facility |
|---|---|
| Operator | Alabama Power Co |
| City | Mcintosh |
| County | Washington County |
| State | Alabama |
| ZIP | 36553 |
| Coordinates | 31.26423, -88.00267 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 82.6 MW | Operating | 1999 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 39.9 MW | Operating | 1999 |
| CO₂ | 262.3k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 1 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 57 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 | 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.