Bear Garden
Natural gas power plant · Buckingham County, Virginia
Nameplate capacity
559 MW
Rank in Virginia
#16
of 261 plants
In service since
2011
May 2011
Details
- Primary fuel
- Natural gas
- Technology
- Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle
- Operator
- Virginia Electric & Power Co
- County
- Buckingham County
- Generating units
- 3
- Share of state capacity
- 1.77%
- Rank among natural gas plants in Virginia
- #11 of 30
- EIA plant code
- 56807
Generating units
| Unit | Technology | Nameplate | Summer | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1C | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | 262 MW | 261 MW | 2011 | Operating |
| 1B | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | 152 MW | 183 MW | 2011 | Operating |
| 1A | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | 145 MW | 183 MW | 2011 | 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 Virginia
| Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center | Coal | 668 MW |
| Marsh Run Generation Facility | Natural gas | 597 MW |
| Smith Mountain | Hydro | 548 MW |
| Louisa Generation Facility | Natural gas | 546 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 559 MW solar plant and a 559 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 Virginia power plants · What Virginia actually generates