North Star Solar

Solar power plant in California, United States of America. Approximate location 36.73, -120.41.

SolarCaliforniaUnited States of America

North Star Solar is a 62 MW solar power plant in California, United States of America. It is operated by Southern Power Co. Based on reported annual generation of 150 GWh, it can supply roughly 42,771 homes. It ranks #2500 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2015, it is around 11 years old — relatively modern. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, solar supplies about 8.6% of United States of America's electricity; the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).

62MW installed capacity
150GWh reported / yr
42,771homes powered
2015commissioned (~11 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0058713.

Reported generation trend

2015: 83 GWh20152016: 150 GWh20162017: 157 GWh20172018: 156 GWh20182019: 150 GWh2019157 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Southern Power Co. All plants by this company →

Local climate & thermal context

This solar plant converts sunlight directly into electricity with photovoltaic panels. It sits in a cold semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSk) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 36.7°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

16.9°Cannual mean temp
1,225heating degree-days (base 18°C)
835cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
90 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 8 °CJF: 11 °CFM: 13 °CMA: 16 °CAM: 20 °CMJ: 23 °CJJ: 26 °CJA: 25 °CAS: 23 °CSO: 19 °CON: 12 °CND: 8 °CD26 °C

Heating degree-days here run 50% 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: 29/100 — 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.

Solar PV loses ~0.35%/°C above 25°C cell temperature — roughly 0.2% at warm-season highs here (estimate).

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 #151 largest solar power plant of 3283 in United States of America by capacity.

United States of America has 3283 solar power plants in this dataset, together about 37,970 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 36.73, -120.41 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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