Chicago West Side Energy Center
Natural gas power plant · Cook County, Illinois
Nameplate capacity
3.5 MW
Rank in Illinois
#266
of 580 plants
In service since
2003
October 2003
Details
- Primary fuel
- Natural gas
- Technology
- Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine
- Operator
- Energy Systems Group LLC
- County
- Cook County
- Generating units
- 1
- Share of state capacity
- 0.01%
- Rank among natural gas plants in Illinois
- #60 of 72
- EIA plant code
- 59794
Generating units
| Unit | Technology | Nameplate | Summer | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEN1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | 3.5 MW | 3.5 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 Illinois
| LaSalle Solar 6 | Solar | 3.6 MW |
| Triton East and West Cogen | Natural gas | 3.6 MW |
| Mars Snackfood US | Natural gas | 3.5 MW |
| USS Beard Solar | Solar | 3.5 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 3.5 MW solar plant and a 3.5 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 Illinois power plants · What Illinois actually generates