Cheatham

Hydro power plant in Tennessee, United States of America. Approximate location 36.3208, -87.2219.

HydroTennesseeUnited States of America

Cheatham is a 36 MW hydro power plant in Tennessee, United States of America. It is operated by USCE-Nashville District. Based on reported annual generation of 165 GWh, it can supply roughly 47,171 homes. It ranks #3113 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1958, it is around 68 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).

36MW installed capacity
165GWh reported / yr
47,171homes powered
1958commissioned (~68 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0006418.

Reported generation trend

2013: 180 GWh20132014: 195 GWh20142015: 184 GWh20152016: 155 GWh20162017: 194 GWh20172018: 169 GWh20182019: 165 GWh2019195 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 36.3°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

14.1°Cannual mean temp
2,073heating degree-days (base 18°C)
679cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
177 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

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

Heating degree-days here run 16% 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 #366 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 36.3208, -87.2219 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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