US Natural gas Power Plants

Natural gas provides 568.2 gigawatts of nameplate capacity across 2,000 plants in the United States as of May 2026, accounting for 40.6% of all US generating capacity. This is capacity — what the equipment could produce running flat out — not what it actually generated. Texas leads with 82,738 MW spread across 310 plants, representing 14.6% of the national total and 41.1% of that state's own capacity. Florida holds the second-largest share at 50,730 MW, California third at 39,158 MW, Pennsylvania fourth at 30,095 MW, New York fifth at 24,465 MW, and Ohio sixth at 19,779 MW. Eight states together hold half the nation's gas capacity.

Gas-fired plants exist in 49 states, but the fleet concentrates in a handful of regions. The largest single facility is West County Energy Center in Florida at 4,263 MW, followed by Manatee in Florida at 2,951 MW, Jack McDonough in Georgia at 2,848 MW, Fort Myers in Florida at 2,681 MW, and Belews Creek in North Carolina at 2,491 MW. These plants span a century of construction: the oldest still listed came online in June 1928 at Marshall in Michigan, while the newest, NRG THW GT Electric Generating Station in Texas, came online in May 2026. Plant counts run down to sub-megawatt units, so capacity rather than headcount describes the true size of the fleet.