Drop 4

Hydro power plant in Baja California, United States of America. Approximate location 32.7053, -115.2191.

HydroBaja CaliforniaUnited States of America

Drop 4 is a 20 MW hydro power plant in Baja California, United States of America. It is operated by Imperial Irrigation District. Based on reported annual generation of 85 GWh, it can supply roughly 24,257 homes. It ranks #3852 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1945, it is around 81 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).

20MW installed capacity
85GWh reported / yr
24,257homes powered
1945commissioned (~81 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0000387.

Reported generation trend

2013: 100 GWh20132014: 96 GWh20142015: 89 GWh20152016: 93 GWh20162017: 17 GWh20172018: 3 GWh20182019: 85 GWh2019100 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Imperial Irrigation District. 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 hot desert climate (Köppen BWh) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 32.7°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

22.3°Cannual mean temp
456heating degree-days (base 18°C)
2,043cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
18 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 13 °CJF: 15 °CFM: 17 °CMA: 21 °CAM: 25 °CMJ: 29 °CJJ: 32 °CJA: 32 °CAS: 30 °CSO: 24 °CON: 17 °CND: 13 °CD32 °C

Heating degree-days here run 81% 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: 20/100 — this site sits in the bottom 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 #478 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 32.7053, -115.2191 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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