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Powerton

Coal power plant · Tazewell County, Illinois

Nameplate capacity
1,786 MW
Rank in Illinois
#6
of 580 plants
In service since
1972
September 1972

Details

Primary fuel
Coal
Technology
Conventional Steam Coal
Operator
Midwest Generations EME LLC
County
Tazewell County
Generating units
2
Share of state capacity
3.39%
Rank among coal plants in Illinois
#1 of 8
EIA plant code
879

Generating units

Individual generating units at Powerton
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
5Conventional Steam Coal893 MW769 MW1972Operating
6Conventional Steam Coal893 MW769 MW1975Operating

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

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 1,786 MW solar plant and a 1,786 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