Ames Hydro

Hydro power plant in Colorado, United States of America. Approximate location 37.866, -107.8831.

HydroColoradoUnited States of America

Ames Hydro is a 4 MW hydro power plant in Colorado, United States of America. It is operated by Public Service Co of Colorado. Based on reported annual generation of 3 GWh, it can supply roughly 971 homes. It ranks #6678 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1906, it is around 120 years old — an older, legacy facility. 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).

4MW installed capacity
3GWh reported / yr
971homes powered
1906commissioned (~120 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0006207.

Reported generation trend

2013: 4 GWh20132014: 2 GWh20142015: 9 GWh20152016: 7 GWh20162017: 8 GWh20172018: 2 GWh20182019: 3 GWh20199 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Public Service Co of Colorado. 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 subarctic (boreal) climate (Köppen Dfc) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 37.9°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

0.1°Cannual mean temp
6,519heating degree-days (base 18°C)
0cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
3,417 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: -10 °CJF: -8 °CFM: -7 °CMA: -4 °CAM: 2 °CMJ: 7 °CJJ: 11 °CJA: 11 °CAS: 8 °CSO: 3 °CON: -4 °CND: -8 °CD11 °C

Heating degree-days here run 165% above 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: 99/100 — this site sits in the top 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 #971 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 37.866, -107.8831 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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