Ames Electric Services Power Plant
Natural gas power plant · Story County, Iowa
Nameplate capacity
109 MW
Rank in Iowa
#76
of 305 plants
In service since
1968
May 1968
Details
- Primary fuel
- Natural gas
- Technology
- Natural Gas Steam Turbine
- Operator
- City of Ames - (IA)
- County
- Story County
- Generating units
- 2
- Share of state capacity
- 0.44%
- Rank among natural gas plants in Iowa
- #14 of 42
- EIA plant code
- 1122
Generating units
| Unit | Technology | Nameplate | Summer | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | 71 MW | 69 MW | 1982 | Operating |
| 7 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | 38 MW | 40 MW | 1968 | 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 Iowa
| Contrail Wind Farm | Wind | 112 MW |
| Morning Light Wind Farm | Wind | 111 MW |
| Victory Wind Farm | Wind | 105 MW |
| Heartland Divide Wind Project, LLC | Wind | 104 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 109 MW solar plant and a 109 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 Iowa power plants · What Iowa actually generates