John H Kerr

Hydro power plant in Virginia, United States of America. Approximate location 36.5994, -78.3005.

HydroVirginiaUnited States of America

John H Kerr is a 297 MW hydro power station in Virginia, United States of America. It is operated by USCE-Wilmington District. Based on reported annual generation of 539 GWh, it can supply roughly 154,114 homes. It ranks #978 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1953, it is around 73 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).

297MW installed capacity
539GWh reported / yr
154,114homes powered
1953commissioned (~73 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0003833.

Reported generation trend

2013: 416 GWh20132014: 422 GWh20142015: 364 GWh20152016: 586 GWh20162017: 395 GWh20172018: 735 GWh20182019: 539 GWh2019735 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by USCE-Wilmington 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 humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 36.6°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

14.5°Cannual mean temp
1,961heating degree-days (base 18°C)
709cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
90 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 3 °CJF: 5 °CFM: 9 °CMA: 14 °CAM: 19 °CMJ: 23 °CJJ: 26 °CJA: 25 °CAS: 21 °CSO: 15 °CON: 10 °CND: 5 °CD26 °C

Heating degree-days here run 20% 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: 42/100 — 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 #69 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 36.5994, -78.3005 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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