Gas power plant in California, United States of America. Approximate location 34.5953, -117.3647.
GasCaliforniaUnited States of AmericaCCGT · HRSGCO₂ measured
High Desert Power Plant is a 852 MW gas power station in California, United States of America. It is operated by MRP Generation Holdings LLC. Based on reported annual generation of 3,337 GWh, it can supply roughly 954k homes. It ranks #769 of 10,938 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2003, it is around 23 years old — relatively modern. Its annual emissions of 1,585,414 t CO₂/yr (US EPA GHGRP) are equivalent to about 370k 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 USA0055518.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
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 L100000402105); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 852 MW, High Desert Power Plant 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 MRP Generation Holdings LLC.
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 34.6°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 36% 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: 36/100 — this site sits in the mid third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
A gas turbine here also runs ~0% 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 #292 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 34.5953, -117.3647 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
High Desert Power Plant is a 852 MW source-record gas power plant in California, United States of America, commissioned in 2003.
High Desert Power Plant generates about 3,337 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 953,542 homes.
High Desert Power Plant is operated by MRP Generation Holdings LLC.
High Desert Power Plant has measured emissions of about 1,585,414 tonnes of CO₂ per year (US EPA GHGRP).
