Kerckhoff

Hydro power plant in California, United States of America. Approximate location 37.0925, -119.5528.

HydroCaliforniaUnited States of America

Kerckhoff is a 23 MW hydro power plant in California, United States of America. It is operated by Pacific Gas & Electric Co.. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 22,625 homes (estimated). It ranks #3545 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1920, it is around 106 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).

23MW installed capacity
22,625homes powered (est.)
1920commissioned (~106 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0000250.

Reported generation trend

2013: 16 GWh20132014: 0 GWh20142015: 6 GWh20152016: 45 GWh20162017: 73 GWh20172018: 0 GWh201873 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Pacific Gas & Electric Co.. 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 hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 37.1°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

14.3°Cannual mean temp
1,864heating degree-days (base 18°C)
544cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
914 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 6 °CJF: 8 °CFM: 9 °CMA: 11 °CAM: 15 °CMJ: 20 °CJJ: 24 °CJA: 24 °CAS: 21 °CSO: 16 °CON: 10 °CND: 7 °CD24 °C

Heating degree-days here run 24% 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: 41/100 — 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 #451 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 37.0925, -119.5528 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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