Alamo

Hydro power plant in California, United States of America. Approximate location 34.8158, -118.6867.

HydroCaliforniaUnited States of America

Alamo is a 20 MW hydro power plant in California, United States of America. It is operated by California Dept. of Water Resources. Based on reported annual generation of 63 GWh, it can supply roughly 18,000 homes. It ranks #3848 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1986, it is around 40 years old — long-established. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, hydro supplies about 5.3% of United States of America's electricity; the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).

20MW installed capacity
63GWh reported / yr
18,000homes powered
1986commissioned (~40 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0000905.

Reported generation trend

2013: 22 GWh20132014: 19 GWh20142015: 24 GWh20152016: 67 GWh20162017: 104 GWh20172018: 53 GWh20182019: 63 GWh2019104 GWh

Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by California Dept. of Water Resources. All plants by this company →

Local climate & thermal context

This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 34.8°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

14.4°Cannual mean temp
1,843heating degree-days (base 18°C)
557cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
1,101 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 6 °CJF: 8 °CFM: 9 °CMA: 12 °CAM: 16 °CMJ: 20 °CJJ: 24 °CJA: 24 °CAS: 21 °CSO: 16 °CON: 10 °CND: 7 °CD24 °C

Heating degree-days here run 25% below the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.

Climate heat-demand index: 40/100 — this site sits in the mid third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.

In colder climates, uninsulated hot equipment (boilers, turbines, valves, steam lines) loses proportionally more heat to ambient air — exactly the loss Inzonex modular insulation is designed to cut.

Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #476 largest hydro power plant of 1449 in United States of America by capacity.

United States of America has 1449 hydro power plants in this dataset, together about 101,657 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 34.8158, -118.6867 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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