Bellows Falls

Hydro power plant in Vermont, United States of America. Approximate location 43.1375, -72.4464.

HydroVermontUnited States of America

Bellows Falls is a 41 MW hydro power plant in Vermont, United States of America. It is operated by Great River Hydro LLC. Based on reported annual generation of 255 GWh, it can supply roughly 72,857 homes. It ranks #2983 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1928, it is around 98 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).

41MW installed capacity
255GWh reported / yr
72,857homes powered
1928commissioned (~98 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0003745.

Reported generation trend

2013: 249 GWh20132014: 237 GWh20142015: 215 GWh20152016: 183 GWh20162017: 238 GWh20172018: 246 GWh20182019: 255 GWh2019255 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Great River Hydro LLC. 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 humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 43.1°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

7.2°Cannual mean temp
4,033heating degree-days (base 18°C)
124cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
236 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: -7 °CJF: -6 °CFM: 0 °CMA: 6 °CAM: 13 °CMJ: 18 °CJJ: 20 °CJA: 20 °CAS: 15 °CSO: 9 °CON: 3 °CND: -4 °CD20 °C

Heating degree-days here run 64% 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: 85/100 — 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 #335 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 43.1375, -72.4464 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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