Austin

Hydro power plant in Texas, United States of America. Approximate location 30.2934, -97.7844.

HydroTexasUnited States of America

Austin is a 18 MW hydro power plant in Texas, United States of America. It is operated by Lower Colorado River Authority. Based on reported annual generation of 38 GWh, it can supply roughly 10,771 homes. It ranks #3927 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1940, it is around 86 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).

18MW installed capacity
38GWh reported / yr
10,771homes powered
1940commissioned (~86 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0003594.

Reported generation trend

2013: 5 GWh20132014: 3 GWh20142015: 3 GWh20152016: 33 GWh20162017: 24 GWh20172018: 34 GWh20182019: 38 GWh201938 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Lower Colorado River Authority. 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 humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 30.3°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

19.9°Cannual mean temp
800heating degree-days (base 18°C)
1,508cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
189 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 10 °CJF: 12 °CFM: 16 °CMA: 20 °CAM: 24 °CMJ: 27 °CJJ: 29 °CJA: 29 °CAS: 26 °CSO: 21 °CON: 15 °CND: 11 °CD29 °C

Heating degree-days here run 67% 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: 24/100 — this site sits in the bottom 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 #491 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 30.2934, -97.7844 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Built from open public data; no personal information. Operate this site? Request a correction or removal.