Cheoah

Hydro power plant in North Carolina, United States of America. Approximate location 35.4478, -83.9383.

HydroNorth CarolinaUnited States of America

Cheoah is a 140 MW hydro power station in North Carolina, United States of America. It is operated by Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower LP. Based on reported annual generation of 685 GWh, it can supply roughly 195,742 homes. It ranks #1607 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1998, it is around 28 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).

140MW installed capacity
685GWh reported / yr
195,742homes powered
1998commissioned (~28 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0054899.

Reported generation trend

2013: 673 GWh20132014: 468 GWh20142015: 478 GWh20152016: 404 GWh20162017: 359 GWh20172018: 576 GWh20182019: 685 GWh2019685 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower LP. 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 35.4°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

12.2°Cannual mean temp
2,389heating degree-days (base 18°C)
299cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
751 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 2 °CJF: 3 °CFM: 8 °CMA: 12 °CAM: 16 °CMJ: 20 °CJJ: 22 °CJA: 21 °CAS: 19 °CSO: 13 °CON: 8 °CND: 4 °CD22 °C

Heating degree-days here run 3% 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: 49/100 — 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 #133 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 35.4478, -83.9383 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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