437th largest plant in California · 3725th nationally
Yuba City Energy Center is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 47.3 MW. It generates roughly 49.3k MWh per year — enough to power about 4,697 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 12% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1253 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Yuba City Energy Center |
|---|---|
| Operator | Calpine Corp-Yuba City |
| City | Yuba City |
| County | Sutter County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 95993 |
| Coordinates | 39.13920, -121.63870 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CTG1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 47.3 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| CO₂ | 30.9k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 1 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 85 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1253 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 | California Independent System Operator |
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.