Cherokee Falls

Hydro power plant in South Carolina, United States of America. Approximate location 35.0642, -81.5458.

HydroSouth CarolinaUnited States of America

Cherokee Falls is a 4 MW hydro power plant in South Carolina, United States of America. It is operated by Aquenergy Systems Inc. Based on reported annual generation of 9 GWh, it can supply roughly 2,485 homes. It ranks #6367 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1986, it is around 40 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
9GWh reported / yr
2,485homes powered
1986commissioned (~40 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0010173.

Reported generation trend

2013: 5 GWh20132014: 14 GWh20142015: 11 GWh20152016: 9 GWh20162017: 8 GWh20172018: 3 GWh20182019: 9 GWh201914 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Aquenergy Systems Inc. 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 35.1°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

15.5°Cannual mean temp
1,700heating degree-days (base 18°C)
805cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
166 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 5 °CJF: 7 °CFM: 11 °CMA: 15 °CAM: 20 °CMJ: 24 °CJJ: 26 °CJA: 25 °CAS: 22 °CSO: 16 °CON: 10 °CND: 6 °CD26 °C

Heating degree-days here run 31% 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: 38/100 — 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 #917 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 35.0642, -81.5458 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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