Hydro power plant in Hidalgo, Mexico. Approximate location 20.8468, -99.4584.
HydroHidalgoMexicoconventional storage
Fernando Hiriart Balderrama (Zimapán) is a 292 MW hydro power station in Hidalgo, Mexico. It is operated by CFE. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 292k homes (estimated). It ranks #114 of 366 Mexico power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1996, it is around 30 years old — long-established. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, hydro supplies about 8.1% of Mexico's electricity; the national grid averages 474 gCO₂/kWh (25.9% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id MEX0001865.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: GEM tracker 2026 (location L100000602471); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 292 MW, Fernando Hiriart Balderrama (Zimapán) is well above the median hydro plant in Mexico (19 MW). Technically it is described as conventional storage. Hydropower converts the energy of falling or flowing water into electricity; output depends on rainfall and reservoir level, and large dams also provide grid balancing and storage.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by CFE. All plants by this company →
This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 20.8°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 88% 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: 18/100 — this site sits in the bottom third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
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.
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a moderately corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C3 — Medium), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #13 largest hydro power plant of 73 in Mexico by capacity.
Mexico has 73 hydro power plants in this dataset, together about 12,457 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 20.8468, -99.4584 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Fernando Hiriart Balderrama (Zimapán) is a 292 MW source-record hydro power plant in Hidalgo, Mexico, commissioned in 1996.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 292,333 homes (estimated).
Fernando Hiriart Balderrama (Zimapán) is operated by CFE.
