LOS ESTEROS CRITICAL ENERGY CENTER

How LOS ESTEROS CRITICAL ENERGY CENTER compares

With 306 MW of capacity, LOS ESTEROS CRITICAL ENERGY CENTER ranks 50th among the 874 operating power plants Bywatts maps in California and 36th of the 190 operating Natural Gas plants in the state. It accounts for about 0.8% of California's operating Natural Gas capacity and 0.4% of all operating capacity in the state. Nationally it is the 448th-largest of the 1,185 operating Natural Gas plants in the database. Commissioned in 2003, it is older than 51% of the 859 operating California plants with a recorded commissioning year. It shares Santa Clara County with 11 other operating plants, including METCALF ENERGY CENTER and DONALD VON RAESFELD POWER PLANT.

EIA-860 lists 5 generators at the site with 306 MW of nameplate capacity, all natural gas fired combined cycle technology. Net generation was 233 GWh in 2024 (an 8.7% capacity factor), up 30% from 2022. Its generators came online between 2003 and 2013.

Grid neighborhood

The nearest named substation is SVP (115 kV), about 0.1 miles away; the closest transmission line found within 10 miles is a 230 kV line owned by PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY, about 0.1 miles away. Another 15 operating power plants totaling 1,606 MW sit within 25 miles; the largest is RUSSELL CITY ENERGY CENTER (655 MW, Natural Gas). Within 50 miles are 31 mapped data centers; the nearest is Coresite - Milpitas (SV2) in Milpitas, about 1.6 miles away.

Computed by Bywatts from HIFLD power plant, substation and transmission line records, EIA-860/923 survey data and PeeringDB data center locations; distances are straight-line. Sources and methodology