45th largest plant in Texas · 378th nationally
Wilkes is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 882 MW. It generates roughly 1.1M MWh per year — enough to power about 106,183 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 14% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1316 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (882 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 | Wilkes |
|---|---|
| Operator | Southwestern Electric Power Co |
| City | Avinger |
| County | Marion County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 75630 |
| Coordinates | 32.84816, -94.54799 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 351 MW | Operating | 1970 |
| 3 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 351 MW | Operating | 1971 |
| 1 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 180 MW | Operating | 1964 |
| CO₂ | 733.5k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 4 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 931 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1316 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 | MRO |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Southwest Power Pool |
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.