8th largest plant in Utah · 1381st nationally
West Valley Generation Project is a natural gas power plant in Utah with a nameplate capacity of 217 MW. It generates roughly 846.4k MWh per year — enough to power about 80,612 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 45% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 1208 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | West Valley Generation Project |
|---|---|
| Operator | Utah Municipal Power Agency |
| City | West Valley City |
| County | Salt Lake County |
| State | Utah |
| ZIP | 84118 |
| Coordinates | 40.66670, -112.03170 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 43.4 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| U2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 43.4 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| U3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 43.4 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| U4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 43.4 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| U5 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 43.4 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| CO₂ | 511.4k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 3 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 61 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1208 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 | Pacificorp - East |
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.