Hydro power plant in California, United States of America. Approximate location 33.8553, -117.4537.
HydroCaliforniaUnited States of America
Lake Mathews is a 5 MW hydro power plant in California, United States of America. It is operated by Metropolitan Water District of S CA. Based on reported annual generation of 4 GWh, it can supply roughly 1,057 homes. It ranks #6140 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1980, it is around 46 years old — long-established. 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).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0006644.
Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Metropolitan Water District of S CA. All plants by this company →
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 33.9°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 58% 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: 27/100 — this site sits in the bottom 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.
The #876 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.
Coordinates 33.8553, -117.4537 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
