Nucla — United States of America

Nucla is a retired coal power station in Colorado, United States of America. Its current lifecycle status is “Retired” — so it is not yet, or no longer, generating at full output. It ranks #2591 of 10,884 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. In context, coal supplies about 16.3% 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 CT-2027.

Data provenance

Source of the capacity and fuel values:

capacity: EIA-860M May 2026 retired generator inventory, summed by Plant ID; fuel: Climate TRACE

In context: how this plant compares

At 113.8 MW, Nucla is below the median coal plant in United States of America (558 MW). Technically it is described as subcritical. Its lifecycle status is Retired; it no longer generates electricity. Coal plants burn pulverised coal to raise high-pressure steam for a turbine; they run as baseload but are the most carbon-intensive mainstream source and the first targeted for retirement or efficiency retrofits.

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

How it compares & nearby plants

The #656 largest coal power plant of 802 in United States of America by capacity.

United States of America has 802 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 621,194 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

• SMPA Solar 1 Community Solar · Solar · 1 MW · Colorado
• Shavano Falls Hydro · Hydro · 2.8 MW · Colorado
• Drop 5 · Hydro · 2.4 MW · Colorado
• Tri-County Water Hydropower Project · Hydro · 8 MW · Colorado
• Shavano Falls Hydro Drop 4 · Hydro · 4.8 MW · Colorado
• Ames Hydro · Hydro · 3.6 MW · Colorado

Location

Coordinates 38.2383, -108.5069 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions