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Walnut Energy Center

Natural gas power plant · Stanislaus County, California

Nameplate capacity
301 MW
Rank in California
#72
of 1,897 plants
In service since
2006
February 2006

Details

Primary fuel
Natural gas
Technology
Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle
Operator
Turlock Irrigation District
County
Stanislaus County
Generating units
3
Share of state capacity
0.28%
Rank among natural gas plants in California
#38 of 309
EIA plant code
56078

Generating units

Individual generating units at Walnut Energy Center
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
3Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle111 MW101 MW2006Operating
1Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle95 MW84 MW2006Operating
2Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle95 MW84 MW2006Operating

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

Daggett 2Solar313 MW
Los Esteros Critical Energy CenterNatural gas306 MW
Solano WindWind301 MW
Kern River CogenerationNatural gas300 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 301 MW solar plant and a 301 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