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Rainbow Falls Hydro

Hydro power plant in New York, United States of America. Approximate location 44.5178, -74.8228.

HydroNew YorkUnited States of America

Rainbow Falls Hydro is a 25 MW hydro power plant in New York, United States of America. It is operated by Erie Boulevard Hydropower LP. Based on reported annual generation of 126 GWh, it can supply roughly 36,028 homes. It ranks #3461 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1956, it is around 70 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).

25MW installed capacity
126GWh reported / yr
36,028homes powered
1956commissioned (~70 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0002600.

Reported generation trend

2013: 110 GWh20132014: 99 GWh20142015: 90 GWh20152016: 86 GWh20162017: 126 GWh20172018: 100 GWh20182019: 126 GWh2019126 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Erie Boulevard Hydropower LP. 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 44.5°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

4.8°Cannual mean temp
4,803heating degree-days (base 18°C)
20cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
444 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: -10 °CJF: -9 °CFM: -3 °CMA: 4 °CAM: 11 °CMJ: 16 °CJJ: 19 °CJA: 18 °CAS: 13 °CSO: 7 °CON: 0 °CND: -7 °CD19 °C

Heating degree-days here run 95% 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: 93/100 — 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 #434 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 44.5178, -74.8228 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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