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Cosgrove Intake and Power Station

Hydro power plant in Massachusetts, United States of America. Approximate location 42.4044, -71.6872.

HydroMassachusettsUnited States of America

Cosgrove Intake and Power Station is a 3 MW hydro power plant in Massachusetts, United States of America. It is operated by Massachusetts Water Res Auth. Based on reported annual generation of 5 GWh, it can supply roughly 1,371 homes. It ranks #6884 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1969, it is around 57 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).

3MW installed capacity
5GWh reported / yr
1,371homes powered
1969commissioned (~57 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0010825.

Reported generation trend

2013: 5 GWh20132014: 4 GWh20142015: 4 GWh20152016: 3 GWh20162017: 4 GWh20172018: 4 GWh20182019: 5 GWh20195 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Massachusetts Water Res Auth. 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 warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 42.4°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

8.7°Cannual mean temp
3,567heating degree-days (base 18°C)
201cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
108 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: -5 °CJF: -4 °CFM: 1 °CMA: 7 °CAM: 13 °CMJ: 18 °CJJ: 21 °CJA: 21 °CAS: 16 °CSO: 10 °CON: 5 °CND: -1 °CD21 °C

Heating degree-days here run 45% above 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: 77/100 — this site sits in the top 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 #1025 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 42.4044, -71.6872 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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