Old Hickory

Hydro power plant in Tennessee, United States of America. Approximate location 36.2972, -86.6556.

HydroTennesseeUnited States of America

Old Hickory is a 104 MW hydro power station in Tennessee, United States of America. It is operated by USCE-Nashville District. Based on reported annual generation of 378 GWh, it can supply roughly 107,857 homes. It ranks #1872 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1957, it is around 69 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).

104MW installed capacity
378GWh reported / yr
107,857homes powered
1957commissioned (~69 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0003426.

Reported generation trend

2013: 548 GWh20132014: 490 GWh20142015: 484 GWh20152016: 391 GWh20162017: 485 GWh20172018: 454 GWh20182019: 378 GWh2019548 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by USCE-Nashville District. 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 humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 36.3°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

14.7°Cannual mean temp
1,972heating degree-days (base 18°C)
788cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
155 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 2 °CJF: 5 °CFM: 10 °CMA: 14 °CAM: 19 °CMJ: 24 °CJJ: 26 °CJA: 25 °CAS: 22 °CSO: 15 °CON: 10 °CND: 5 °CD26 °C

Heating degree-days here run 20% 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: 43/100 — 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 #178 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 36.2972, -86.6556 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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