Chilhowee

Hydro power plant in Tennessee, United States of America. Approximate location 35.5453, -84.0503.

HydroTennesseeUnited States of America

Chilhowee is a 50 MW hydro power plant in Tennessee, United States of America. It is operated by Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower LP. Based on reported annual generation of 220 GWh, it can supply roughly 62,800 homes. It ranks #2771 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1957, it is around 69 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).

50MW installed capacity
220GWh reported / yr
62,800homes powered
1957commissioned (~69 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0054901.

Reported generation trend

2013: 241 GWh20132014: 152 GWh20142015: 98 GWh20152016: 11 GWh20162017: 78 GWh20172018: 194 GWh20182019: 220 GWh2019241 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 35.5°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 #295 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 35.5453, -84.0503 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Built from open public data; no personal information. Operate this site? Request a correction or removal.