Gas power plant in Arizona, United States of America. Approximate location 32.9042, -111.7889.
GasArizonaUnited States of AmericaCCGT · HRSGCO₂ measured
Desert Basin is a 746 MW gas power station in Arizona, United States of America. It is operated by Salt River Project. Based on reported annual generation of 2,220 GWh, it can supply roughly 634k homes. It ranks #898 of 10,938 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2001, it is around 25 years old — relatively modern. Its annual emissions of 1,240,576 t CO₂/yr (US EPA GHGRP) are equivalent to about 289k cars driven for a year. 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).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0055129.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The public capacity above is the current source-record value. A 2026 tracker candidate lists 746 MW for Desert Basin power station, but it is not used as the public primary value until scope is verified (unit vs operating vs installed/project total).
Capacity claim grade: A2_MEDIUM_REVIEW - recommended action: manual_source_check - confidence: medium. This follows a claim-based data model: value + scope + source + confidence, rather than silently overwriting records.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: GEM tracker 2026 (location L100000402259); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 746 MW, Desert Basin is well above the median gas plant in United States of America (121 MW). Technically it is described as CCGT; combined-cycle with a heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG). 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.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; emissions per US EPA GHGRP (measured for US EPA/EU ETS, modelled for Climate TRACE).
Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Salt River Project. All plants by this company →
This gas plant burns natural gas in a turbine — often in a combined-cycle setup — to generate electricity. It sits in a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 32.9°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 71% below the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.
Climate heat-demand index: 23/100 — this site sits in the bottom third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
A gas turbine here also runs ~4% below its ISO (15°C) rating at this annual mean (typical CCGT curve, estimate).
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a benign, low-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C1 — Very low), with dust abrasion the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #357 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.
Coordinates 32.9042, -111.7889 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Desert Basin is a 746 MW source-record gas power plant in Arizona, United States of America, commissioned in 2001.
Desert Basin generates about 2,220 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 634,314 homes.
Desert Basin is operated by Salt River Project.
Desert Basin has measured emissions of about 1,240,576 tonnes of CO₂ per year (US EPA GHGRP).
