Coal Creek
Coal power plant · McLean County, North Dakota
Details
- Primary fuel
- Coal
- Technology
- Conventional Steam Coal
- Operator
- Rainbow Energy Center
- County
- McLean County
- Generating units
- 4
- Share of state capacity
- 10.83%
- Rank among coal plants in North Dakota
- #1 of 7
- EIA plant code
- 6030
Generating units
| Unit | Technology | Nameplate | Summer | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conventional Steam Coal | 605 MW | 568 MW | 1979 | Operating |
| 2 | Conventional Steam Coal | 605 MW | 574 MW | 1980 | Operating |
| 4 | Petroleum Liquids | 3.0 MW | 3.0 MW | 2016 | Standby/Backup: available for service but not normally used |
| 5 | Petroleum Liquids | 3.0 MW | 3.0 MW | 2016 | Standby/Backup: available for service but not normally used |
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 North Dakota
| Antelope Valley | Coal | 954 MW |
| Pioneer Generation Station | Natural gas | 897 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 1,216 MW solar plant and a 1,216 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 North Dakota power plants · What North Dakota actually generates