Black Bear Lake

Hydro power plant in Alaska, United States of America. Approximate location 55.4765, -133.1477.

HydroAlaskaUnited States of America

Black Bear Lake is a 4 MW hydro power plant in Alaska, United States of America. It is operated by Alaska Power and Telephone Co. Based on reported annual generation of 20 GWh, it can supply roughly 5,714 homes. It ranks #6267 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1995, it is around 31 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).

4MW installed capacity
20GWh reported / yr
5,714homes powered
1995commissioned (~31 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0007752.

Reported generation trend

2013: 20 GWh20132014: 21 GWh20142015: 21 GWh20152016: 21 GWh20162017: 19 GWh20172018: 18 GWh20182019: 20 GWh201921 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Alaska Power and Telephone Co. 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 temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 55.5°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

6.4°Cannual mean temp
4,222heating degree-days (base 18°C)
0cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
248 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 1 °CJF: 2 °CFM: 2 °CMA: 4 °CAM: 8 °CMJ: 11 °CJJ: 12 °CJA: 13 °CAS: 11 °CSO: 7 °CON: 4 °CND: 2 °CD13 °C

Heating degree-days here run 72% 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: 87/100 — 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 #901 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 55.4765, -133.1477 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.