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Prairie Creek

Natural gas power plant · Linn County, Iowa

Nameplate capacity
199 MW
Rank in Iowa
#44
of 305 plants
In service since
1958
October 1958

Details

Primary fuel
Natural gas
Technology
Natural Gas Steam Turbine
Operator
Interstate Power and Light Co
County
Linn County
Generating units
2
Share of state capacity
0.80%
Rank among natural gas plants in Iowa
#6 of 42
EIA plant code
1073

Generating units

Individual generating units at Prairie Creek
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
4Natural Gas Steam Turbine149 MW112 MW1967Operating
3Conventional Steam Coal50 MW29 MW1958Operating

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

Whispering Willow Wind Farm - EastWind200 MW
Turtle Creek Wind Farm LLCWind199 MW
MarshalltownNatural gas189 MW
ExiraNatural gas182 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 199 MW solar plant and a 199 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