Noxon Rapids

Hydro power plant in Montana, United States of America. Approximate location 47.9605, -115.7336.

HydroMontanaUnited States of America

Noxon Rapids is a 570 MW hydro power station in Montana, United States of America. It is operated by Avista Corp. Based on reported annual generation of 1,574 GWh, it can supply roughly 449,571 homes. It ranks #658 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1963, it is around 63 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).

570MW installed capacity
1,574GWh reported / yr
449,571homes powered
1963commissioned (~63 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0002199.

Reported generation trend

2013: 1,581 GWh20132014: 1,968 GWh20142015: 1,635 GWh20152016: 1,696 GWh20162017: 1,866 GWh20172018: 1,841 GWh20182019: 1,574 GWh20192k GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Avista Corp. 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 warm-summer Mediterranean continental climate (Köppen Dsb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 48.0°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

5.5°Cannual mean temp
4,535heating degree-days (base 18°C)
0cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
1,240 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: -5 °CJF: -2 °CFM: 1 °CMA: 5 °CAM: 9 °CMJ: 13 °CJJ: 16 °CJA: 17 °CAS: 12 °CSO: 6 °CON: 0 °CND: -4 °CD17 °C

Heating degree-days here run 84% above 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: 91/100 — this site sits in the top 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 #42 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 47.9605, -115.7336 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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