Prairie State Generating Station
Coal power plant · St Clair County, Illinois
Nameplate capacity
1,766 MW
Rank in Illinois
#7
of 580 plants
In service since
2012
June 2012
Details
- Primary fuel
- Coal
- Technology
- Conventional Steam Coal
- Operator
- Prairie State Generating Co LLC
- County
- St Clair County
- Generating units
- 2
- Share of state capacity
- 3.35%
- Rank among coal plants in Illinois
- #2 of 8
- EIA plant code
- 55856
Generating units
| Unit | Technology | Nameplate | Summer | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PC1 | Conventional Steam Coal | 883 MW | 815 MW | 2012 | Operating |
| PC2 | Conventional Steam Coal | 883 MW | 815 MW | 2012 | 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
| Quad Cities Generating Station | Nuclear | 2,019 MW |
| Powerton | Coal | 1,786 MW |
| Kincaid Generation LLC | Coal | 1,319 MW |
| CPV Three Rivers Energy Center | Natural gas | 1,300 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 1,766 MW solar plant and a 1,766 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