Pit 5

Hydro power plant in California, United States of America. Approximate location 40.9862, -121.9776.

HydroCaliforniaUnited States of America

Pit 5 is a 142 MW hydro power station in California, United States of America. It is operated by Pacific Gas & Electric Co.. Based on reported annual generation of 854 GWh, it can supply roughly 243,942 homes. It ranks #1600 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1944, it is around 82 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).

142MW installed capacity
854GWh reported / yr
243,942homes powered
1944commissioned (~82 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0000268.

Reported generation trend

2013: 479 GWh20132014: 517 GWh20142015: 442 GWh20152016: 588 GWh20162017: 227 GWh20172018: 613 GWh20182019: 854 GWh2019854 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Pacific Gas & Electric Co.. 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 climate (Köppen Csb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 41.0°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

11.5°Cannual mean temp
2,521heating degree-days (base 18°C)
174cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
890 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 4 °CJF: 5 °CFM: 7 °CMA: 9 °CAM: 14 °CMJ: 18 °CJJ: 21 °CJA: 21 °CAS: 18 °CSO: 13 °CON: 7 °CND: 4 °CD21 °C

Heating degree-days here run 3% 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: 51/100 — 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 #131 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 40.9862, -121.9776 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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