Pine Flat

Hydro power plant in California, United States of America. Approximate location 36.8326, -119.327.

HydroCaliforniaUnited States of America

Pine Flat is a 165 MW hydro power station in California, United States of America. It is operated by Kings River Conservation Dist. Based on reported annual generation of 715 GWh, it can supply roughly 204,171 homes. It ranks #1438 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1984, it is around 42 years old — long-established. 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).

165MW installed capacity
715GWh reported / yr
204,171homes powered
1984commissioned (~42 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0007907.

Reported generation trend

2013: 116 GWh20132014: 76 GWh20142015: 21 GWh20152016: 238 GWh20162017: 900 GWh20172018: 340 GWh20182019: 715 GWh2019900 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Kings River Conservation Dist.

Local climate & thermal context

This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 36.8°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

16.8°Cannual mean temp
1,368heating degree-days (base 18°C)
953cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
490 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 8 °CJF: 10 °CFM: 12 °CMA: 14 °CAM: 19 °CMJ: 23 °CJJ: 27 °CJA: 27 °CAS: 24 °CSO: 19 °CON: 12 °CND: 8 °CD27 °C

Heating degree-days here run 44% 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: 32/100 — 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 #115 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 36.8326, -119.327 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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