Home / Power plants / California / Los Esteros Critical Energy Center

Los Esteros Critical Energy Center

Natural gas power plant · Santa Clara County, California

Nameplate capacity

306 MW

Rank in California

#71

of 1,897 plants

In service since

2003

February 2003

Details

Primary fuel: Natural gas
Technology: Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle
Operator: Los Esteros Critical Energy Facility LLC
County: Santa Clara County
Generating units: 5
Share of state capacity: 0.28%
Rank among natural gas plants in California: #37 of 309
EIA plant code: 55748

Generating units

Individual generating units at Los Esteros Critical Energy Center
Unit	Technology	Nameplate	Summer	Online	Status
CAG5	Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle	126 MW	108 MW	2013	Operating
CTG1	Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle	45 MW	49 MW	2003	Operating
CTG2	Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle	45 MW	47 MW	2003	Operating
CTG3	Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle	45 MW	49 MW	2003	Operating
CTG4	Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle	45 MW	47 MW	2003	Operating

Nameplate is the maximum rated output; summer capacity is what the unit can reliably deliver on a hot day, which is typically lower.

Similarly sized plants in California

Desert Sunlight 300, LLC	Solar	314 MW
Daggett 2	Solar	313 MW
Walnut Energy Center	Natural gas	301 MW
Solano Wind	Wind	301 MW

About this data

From EIA’s inventory of operable generators, May 2026 release. Capacity is nameplate — the maximum rated output of the equipment, not what the plant actually generates over a year, which depends on how often it runs. A 306 MW solar plant and a 306 MW nuclear plant have the same entry here and produce very different amounts of electricity.

“In service since” is the earliest in-service date among the units still listed, so a site rebuilt around newer equipment can read as younger than the site itself. All California power plants · What California actually generates