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Fries Hydroelectric Project

Hydro power plant in Virginia, United States of America. Approximate location 36.7151, -80.9856.

HydroVirginiaUnited States of America

Fries Hydroelectric Project is a 5 MW hydro power plant in Virginia, United States of America. It is operated by Aquenergy Systems Inc. Based on reported annual generation of 12 GWh, it can supply roughly 3,571 homes. It ranks #5510 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1954, it is around 72 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).

5MW installed capacity
12GWh reported / yr
3,571homes powered
1954commissioned (~72 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0010798.

Reported generation trend

2013: 33 GWh20132014: 26 GWh20142015: 27 GWh20152016: 22 GWh20162017: 23 GWh20172018: 26 GWh20182019: 12 GWh201933 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Aquenergy Systems 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 temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 36.7°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

11.3°Cannual mean temp
2,664heating degree-days (base 18°C)
249cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
754 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 0 °CJF: 2 °CFM: 6 °CMA: 11 °CAM: 15 °CMJ: 19 °CJJ: 22 °CJA: 21 °CAS: 18 °CSO: 12 °CON: 7 °CND: 2 °CD22 °C

Heating degree-days here run 8% 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: 54/100 — 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 #835 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 36.7151, -80.9856 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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