Pole Hill

Hydro power plant in Colorado, United States of America. Approximate location 40.3651, -105.3251.

HydroColoradoUnited States of America

Pole Hill is a 38 MW hydro power plant in Colorado, United States of America. It is operated by U S Bureau of Reclamation. Based on reported annual generation of 213 GWh, it can supply roughly 60,914 homes. It ranks #3065 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1954, it is around 72 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).

38MW installed capacity
213GWh reported / yr
60,914homes powered
1954commissioned (~72 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0000519.

Reported generation trend

2013: 151 GWh20132014: 192 GWh20142015: 120 GWh20152016: 191 GWh20162017: 146 GWh20172018: 173 GWh20182019: 213 GWh2019213 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 cold semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSk) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 40.4°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

8.9°Cannual mean temp
3,449heating degree-days (base 18°C)
158cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
1,764 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: -2 °CJF: 0 °CFM: 3 °CMA: 7 °CAM: 12 °CMJ: 18 °CJJ: 21 °CJA: 20 °CAS: 15 °CSO: 10 °CON: 2 °CND: -1 °CD21 °C

Heating degree-days here run 40% 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: 75/100 — 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 #353 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 40.3651, -105.3251 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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