Hydro power plant in Colorado, United States of America. Approximate location 40.421, -105.2238.
HydroColoradoUnited States of America
Big Thompson is a 4 MW hydro power plant in Colorado, United States of America. It is operated by U S Bureau of Reclamation. Based on reported annual generation of 8 GWh, it can supply roughly 2,342 homes. It ranks #6265 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1959, it is around 67 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).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0000515.
Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by U S Bureau of Reclamation. All plants by this company →
This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a cold semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSk) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 40.4°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 38% 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: 73/100 — 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.
The #899 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.
Coordinates 40.421, -105.2238 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
