Drop 3 (WA)

Hydro power plant in Washington, United States of America. Approximate location 46.4231, -120.56.

HydroWashingtonUnited States of America

Drop 3 (WA) is a 2 MW hydro power plant in Washington, United States of America. It is operated by Yakama Power. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 1,601 homes (estimated). It ranks #8518 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1932, it is around 94 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).

2MW installed capacity
1,601homes powered (est.)
1932commissioned (~94 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0006508.

Capacity vs largest hydro plants in United States of America

Grand Coulee: 6,809 MW7kGrand Coul…Bath County: 2,862 MW3kBath CountyChief Joseph: 2,456 MW2kChief Jose…Robert Moses Niagara: 2,429 MW2kRobert Mos…John Day: 2,160 MW2kJohn DayLudington: 1,979 MW2kLudingtonThe Dalles: 1,820 MW2kThe DallesRaccoon Mountain: 1,714 MW2kRaccoon Mo…

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by Yakama Power. 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 Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 46.4°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

10.8°Cannual mean temp
2,862heating degree-days (base 18°C)
261cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
255 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 0 °CJF: 3 °CFM: 7 °CMA: 11 °CAM: 15 °CMJ: 19 °CJJ: 22 °CJA: 22 °CAS: 17 °CSO: 11 °CON: 4 °CND: 0 °CD22 °C

Heating degree-days here run 16% 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: 59/100 — 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 #1262 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 46.4231, -120.56 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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