South Holston

Hydro power plant in Tennessee, United States of America. Approximate location 36.5232, -82.0902.

HydroTennesseeUnited States of America

South Holston is a 38 MW hydro power plant in Tennessee, United States of America. It is operated by Tennessee Valley Authority. Based on reported annual generation of 156 GWh, it can supply roughly 44,714 homes. It ranks #3058 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1951, it is around 75 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
156GWh reported / yr
44,714homes powered
1951commissioned (~75 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0003416.

Reported generation trend

2013: 201 GWh20132014: 115 GWh20142015: 144 GWh20152016: 109 GWh20162017: 86 GWh20172018: 1 GWh20182019: 156 GWh2019201 GWh

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

Owner

Operated by Tennessee Valley Authority. 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 humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 36.5°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

11.7°Cannual mean temp
2,568heating degree-days (base 18°C)
270cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
764 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 1 °CJF: 2 °CFM: 7 °CMA: 11 °CAM: 16 °CMJ: 20 °CJJ: 22 °CJA: 21 °CAS: 18 °CSO: 12 °CON: 7 °CND: 3 °CD22 °C

Heating degree-days here run 4% 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: 52/100 — 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 #350 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 36.5232, -82.0902 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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