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Lower White River

Hydro power plant in Saint Ann, Jamaica. Approximate location 18.4122, -77.0696.

HydroSaint AnnJamaica

Lower White River is a 5 MW hydro power plant in Saint Ann, Jamaica. It is operated by Jamaica Public Service Company. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 4,805 homes (estimated). It ranks #9 of 10 Jamaica power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1952, it is around 74 years old — an older, legacy facility. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, hydro supplies about 2.4% of Jamaica's electricity; the national grid averages 563 gCO₂/kWh (12.6% low-carbon) (2024).

5MW installed capacity
4,805homes powered (est.)
1952commissioned (~74 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1023925.

Capacity vs largest hydro plants in Jamaica

Maggotty Hydro: 6 MW6Maggotty H…Lower White River: 5 MW5Lower Whit…Upper White River: 4 MW4Upper Whit…

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by Jamaica Public Service Company. 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 tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 18.4°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

23.7°Cannual mean temp
0heating degree-days (base 18°C)
2,095cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
286 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 22 °CJF: 22 °CFM: 23 °CMA: 23 °CAM: 24 °CMJ: 25 °CJJ: 25 °CJA: 25 °CAS: 25 °CSO: 24 °CON: 24 °CND: 23 °CD25 °C

Heating degree-days here run 100% 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: 13/100 — 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.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #2 largest hydro power plant of 3 in Jamaica by capacity.

Jamaica has 3 hydro power plants in this dataset, together about 15 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 18.4122, -77.0696 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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