Pawnee — United States of America

Coal power plant in Colorado, United States of America. Approximate location 40.2217, -103.6803.

CoalColoradoUnited States of AmericaSteamConstruction

Pawnee is a 552.3 MW coal power station in Colorado, United States of America. It ranks #1143 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).

552.3MW installed capacity
1981Construction

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0006248.

Data status

Known data

FacilityPawnee WRI
CountryUnited States of America · Colorado WRI
Coordinates40.2217, -103.6803 WRI
FuelCoal WRI
MW installed capacity552.3 MW GEM · 2026 · L100000103812; operating plant capacity
Verification noteQuality label backfilled from existing source-backed capacity provenance on 2026-07-05; capacity value was not changed. source-verified
OwnerPublic Service Co of Colorado WRI
Commissioned1981 WRI
TechnologySteam WRI

Calculated from dataset

Capacity rank in country#1143 / 10884 calculated
Fuel-specific rank in country#402 / 802 calculated
Capacity vs country/fuel peers0.99× · 558 MW · n=802 calculated
Climate9.9°C · HDD 3,360 derived from coordinates
Environmental severityC1 · 39/100 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: GEM · 2026 · L100000103812; fuel: WRI GPPD

In context: how this plant compares

At 552.3 MW, Pawnee is around the median coal plant in United States of America (558 MW). Technically it is described as Steam. Its current lifecycle status is “Construction” — so it is not yet, or no longer, generating at full output. 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 #402 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

Location

Coordinates 40.2217, -103.6803 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions

What type of power plant is Pawnee?

Pawnee is a 552.3 MW coal power plant in Colorado, United States of America, Construction 1981.

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