Center Hill

Hydro power plant in Tennessee, United States of America. Approximate location 36.0972, -85.8274.

HydroTennesseeUnited States of America

Center Hill is a 140 MW hydro power station in Tennessee, United States of America. It is operated by USCE-Nashville District. Based on reported annual generation of 245 GWh, it can supply roughly 70,085 homes. It ranks #1606 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1950, it is around 76 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).

140MW installed capacity
245GWh reported / yr
70,085homes powered
1950commissioned (~76 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0006417.

Reported generation trend

2013: 398 GWh20132014: 346 GWh20142015: 361 GWh20152016: 216 GWh20162017: 347 GWh20172018: 369 GWh20182019: 245 GWh2019398 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by USCE-Nashville District. 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 36.1°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

14.1°Cannual mean temp
2,030heating degree-days (base 18°C)
639cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
252 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 2 °CJF: 4 °CFM: 9 °CMA: 14 °CAM: 18 °CMJ: 23 °CJJ: 25 °CJA: 24 °CAS: 21 °CSO: 15 °CON: 9 °CND: 5 °CD25 °C

Heating degree-days here run 17% 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: 44/100 — this site sits in the mid 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 #132 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 36.0972, -85.8274 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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