Palisades Dam

Hydro power plant in Idaho, United States of America. Approximate location 43.3348, -111.2058.

HydroIdahoUnited States of America

Palisades Dam is a 176 MW hydro power station in Idaho, United States of America. It is operated by U S Bureau of Reclamation. Based on reported annual generation of 758 GWh, it can supply roughly 216,657 homes. It ranks #1377 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).

176MW installed capacity
758GWh reported / yr
216,657homes powered
1957commissioned (~69 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0000850.

Reported generation trend

2013: 356 GWh20132014: 514 GWh20142015: 626 GWh20152016: 581 GWh20162017: 688 GWh20172018: 827 GWh20182019: 758 GWh2019827 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by U S Bureau of Reclamation. 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 humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 43.3°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

3.4°Cannual mean temp
5,297heating degree-days (base 18°C)
0cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
2,006 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: -8 °CJF: -6 °CFM: -2 °CMA: 2 °CAM: 7 °CMJ: 12 °CJJ: 16 °CJA: 15 °CAS: 11 °CSO: 5 °CON: -2 °CND: -8 °CD16 °C

Heating degree-days here run 116% 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: 95/100 — 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 #104 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 43.3348, -111.2058 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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