Elk Hills Cogen

Gas power plant in California, United States of America. Approximate location 35.4791, -119.7375.

GasCaliforniaUnited States of America

Elk Hills Cogen is a 47 MW gas power plant in California, United States of America. It is operated by California Resources Elk Hills LLC. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 52,484 homes (estimated). It ranks #2861 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1994, it is around 32 years old — long-established. 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).

47MW installed capacity
52,484homes powered (est.)
1994commissioned (~32 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0055950.

~73,479 t CO₂/yr (estimated) — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

17,128passenger cars driven for a year
9,583homes' yearly energy use
1,224,648tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

Estimated, not measured: from installed capacity at a typical 45% load factor × a typical gas emission factor (~400 g CO₂/kWh, IPCC AR5 / US EIA). Actual emissions depend on plant efficiency and running hours.Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies.

Reported generation trend

2013: 126 GWh20132014: 171 GWh20142015: 66 GWh20152016: 54 GWh20162017: 11 GWh20172018: 0 GWh20182019: 0 GWh2019171 GWh

Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by California Resources Elk Hills LLC.

Local climate & thermal context

This gas plant burns natural gas in a turbine — often in a combined-cycle setup — to generate electricity. It sits in a cold semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSk) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 35.5°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

17.8°Cannual mean temp
1,133heating degree-days (base 18°C)
1,071cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
117 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 8 °CJF: 11 °CFM: 14 °CMA: 16 °CAM: 21 °CMJ: 25 °CJJ: 28 °CJA: 27 °CAS: 24 °CSO: 19 °CON: 13 °CND: 8 °CD28 °C

Heating degree-days here run 54% 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: 28/100 — this site sits in the bottom third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.

In colder climates, uninsulated hot equipment (boilers, turbines, valves, steam lines) loses proportionally more heat to ambient air — exactly the loss Inzonex modular insulation is designed to cut.

A gas turbine here also runs ~2% 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.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #1112 largest gas power plant of 1818 in United States of America by capacity.

United States of America has 1818 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 546,436 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 35.4791, -119.7375 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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