Capitol Power Plant

38°52′58.35″N 77°0′27.06″W / 38.8828750°N 77.0075167°W / 38.8828750; -77.0075167

The Capitol Power Plant is a fossil-fuel burning power plant which provides steam and chilled water for the United States Capitol, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress and 19 other buildings in the Capitol Complex. Located at 25 E St SE in southeast Washington, D.C., the CPP was the only coal-burning power plant in the District of Columbia, and it now it mostly uses natural gas.^[1][2] The plant has been serving the Capitol since 1910, and is under the administration of the Architect of the Capitol (see 2 U.S.C. § 2162).

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the facility released 118,851 tons of carbon dioxide in 2007.^[3] In 2009, it switched to using natural gas, unless coal was needed for backup capacity. Though it was originally built to supply the Capitol complex with electricity as well, the plant stopped generating electricity in 1951.^[1] In 2013, it was announced that the Capitol Power Plant would add a cogeneration plant that will use natural gas in a combustion turbine to efficiently generate both electricity and heat for steam, thus further reducing emissions. A 7.5 megawatt cogeneration facility was completed at the CPP in 2018.^[2] In 2021 it produced 32,000 tons of carbon dioxide.^[4]