Brownlee

Hydro power plant in Idaho, United States of America. Approximate location 44.8367, -116.8975.

HydroIdahoUnited States of America

Brownlee is a 675 MW hydro power station in Idaho, United States of America. It is operated by Idaho Power Co. Based on reported annual generation of 2,539 GWh, it can supply roughly 725,342 homes. It ranks #534 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1965, it is around 61 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).

675MW installed capacity
2,539GWh reported / yr
725,342homes powered
1965commissioned (~61 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0000811.

Reported generation trend

2013: 1,675 GWh20132014: 1,917 GWh20142015: 1,719 GWh20152016: 2,013 GWh20162017: 2,394 GWh20172018: 2,419 GWh20182019: 2,539 GWh20193k GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Idaho Power 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 warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 44.8°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

3.9°Cannual mean temp
5,140heating degree-days (base 18°C)
0cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
1,818 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: -5 °CJF: -4 °CFM: -2 °CMA: 2 °CAM: 6 °CMJ: 10 °CJJ: 14 °CJA: 15 °CAS: 11 °CSO: 6 °CON: -1 °CND: -5 °CD15 °C

Heating degree-days here run 109% 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: 95/100 — 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 #33 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 44.8367, -116.8975 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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