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Ben French — United States of America

Gas power plant in South Dakota, United States of America. Approximate location 44.0872, -103.261.

GasSouth DakotaUnited States of AmericaEngineConstruction

Ben French is a 110 MW gas power station in South Dakota, United States of America. It ranks #2612 of 10,884 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. In context, gas supplies about 40.0% of United States of America's electricity; the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).

110MW installed capacity

1976Construction

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0003325.

Data status

Known data

FacilityBen French WRI

CountryUnited States of America · South Dakota WRI

Coordinates44.0872, -103.261 WRI

FuelGas WRI

MW installed capacity110 MW Wikidata P2109; installed/nameplate capacity

Verification noteQuality label backfilled from existing source-backed capacity provenance on 2026-07-05; capacity value was not changed. source-verified

OwnerBlack Hills Power Inc. d/b/a WRI

Commissioned1976 WRI

TechnologyEngine WRI

Calculated from dataset

Capacity rank in country#2612 / 10884 calculated

Fuel-specific rank in country#1113 / 2165 calculated

Capacity vs country/fuel peers0.91× · 121.2 MW · n=2165 calculated

Climate8.2°C · HDD 3,768 derived from coordinates

Environmental severityC2 · 30/100 derived from coordinates

Not available

GWh reported / yrNot available not in dataset

CO₂ emissionsNot available not in dataset

Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.

Data provenance

Source of the capacity and fuel values:

capacity: Wikidata P2109; fuel: WRI GPPD

In context: how this plant compares

At 110 MW, Ben French is around the median gas plant in United States of America (121.2 MW). Technically it is described as Engine. Its current lifecycle status is “Construction” — so it is not yet, or no longer, generating at full output. Gas plants burn natural gas either in open-cycle turbines for fast peaking, or in combined-cycle units that recover exhaust heat in an HRSG to reach roughly 55–62% efficiency — the cleanest-burning fossil option.

Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #1113 largest gas power plant of 2165 in United States of America by capacity.

United States of America has 2165 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 789,950 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Lange Gas Turbines · Gas · 40 MW · South Dakota
Spearfish Hydro · Hydro · 4 MW · South Dakota

Location

Coordinates 44.0872, -103.261 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions

What type of power plant is Ben French?

Ben French is a 110 MW gas power plant in South Dakota, United States of America, Construction 1976.

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