Home / North America / United States of America / Fairfield Pumped Storage

Fairfield Pumped Storage

Hydro power plant in South Carolina, United States of America. Approximate location 34.3061, -81.3308.

HydroSouth CarolinaUnited States of America

Fairfield Pumped Storage is a 587 MW hydro power station in South Carolina, United States of America. It is operated by Dominion Energy South Carolina Inc. Based on reported annual generation of -189 GWh, it can supply roughly -53,942 homes. It ranks #637 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1978, it is around 48 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).

587MW installed capacity
-189GWh reported / yr
-53,942homes powered
1978commissioned (~48 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0006126.

Reported generation trend

2013: -175 GWh20132014: -152 GWh20142015: -124 GWh20152016: -197 GWh20162017: -152 GWh20172018: -168 GWh20182019: -189 GWh2019-124 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Dominion Energy South Carolina 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 34.3°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

16.5°Cannual mean temp
1,445heating degree-days (base 18°C)
928cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
107 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 6 °CJF: 8 °CFM: 12 °CMA: 16 °CAM: 20 °CMJ: 24 °CJJ: 27 °CJA: 26 °CAS: 23 °CSO: 17 °CON: 12 °CND: 8 °CD27 °C

Heating degree-days here run 41% 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: 33/100 — 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 #40 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 34.3061, -81.3308 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.