Guntersville

Hydro power plant in Alabama, United States of America. Approximate location 34.4213, -86.3939.

HydroAlabamaUnited States of America

Guntersville is a 115 MW hydro power station in Alabama, United States of America. It is operated by Tennessee Valley Authority. Based on reported annual generation of 668 GWh, it can supply roughly 190,714 homes. It ranks #1781 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1942, it is around 84 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).

115MW installed capacity
668GWh reported / yr
190,714homes powered
1942commissioned (~84 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0000048.

Reported generation trend

2013: 840 GWh20132014: 713 GWh20142015: 741 GWh20152016: 506 GWh20162017: 724 GWh20172018: 734 GWh20182019: 668 GWh2019840 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Tennessee Valley Authority. 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 34.4°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

15.4°Cannual mean temp
1,719heating degree-days (base 18°C)
792cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
234 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 4 °CJF: 6 °CFM: 11 °CMA: 15 °CAM: 19 °CMJ: 24 °CJJ: 26 °CJA: 25 °CAS: 22 °CSO: 16 °CON: 11 °CND: 6 °CD26 °C

Heating degree-days here run 30% 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: 38/100 — 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 #160 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 34.4213, -86.3939 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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