Shasta

Hydro power plant in California, United States of America. Approximate location 40.7175, -122.4223.

HydroCaliforniaUnited States of America

Shasta is a 714 MW hydro power station in California, United States of America. It is operated by U S Bureau of Reclamation. Based on reported annual generation of 2,294 GWh, it can supply roughly 655,428 homes. It ranks #485 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1946, it is around 80 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).

714MW installed capacity
2,294GWh reported / yr
655,428homes powered
1946commissioned (~80 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0000445.

Reported generation trend

2013: 1,795 GWh20132014: 1,013 GWh20142015: 1,097 GWh20152016: 1,748 GWh20162017: 2,908 GWh20172018: 1,739 GWh20182019: 2,294 GWh20193k 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 hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 40.7°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

16.6°Cannual mean temp
1,406heating degree-days (base 18°C)
916cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
230 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 8 °CJF: 10 °CFM: 11 °CMA: 14 °CAM: 19 °CMJ: 23 °CJJ: 27 °CJA: 27 °CAS: 24 °CSO: 18 °CON: 11 °CND: 8 °CD27 °C

Heating degree-days here run 43% 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 #32 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 40.7175, -122.4223 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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