Balch 2

Hydro power plant · Fresno County, California

Nameplate capacity
97 MW
Rank in California
#294
of 1,897 plants
In service since
1958
November 1958

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Conventional Hydroelectric
Operator
Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
County
Fresno County
Generating units
2
Share of state capacity
0.09%
Rank among hydro plants in California
#42 of 244
EIA plant code
218

Generating units

Individual generating units at Balch 2
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
2Conventional Hydroelectric49 MW53 MW1958Operating
3Conventional Hydroelectric49 MW53 MW1958Operating

Nameplate is the maximum rated output; summer capacity is what the unit can reliably deliver on a hot day, which is typically lower.

Similarly sized plants in California

Henrietta PeakerNatural gas98 MW
SF Azalea, LLCSolar98 MW
Acid BESSBattery storage97 MW
Strauss Wind FarmWind95 MW

About this data

From EIA’s inventory of operable generators, May 2026 release. Capacity is nameplate — the maximum rated output of the equipment, not what the plant actually generates over a year, which depends on how often it runs. A 97 MW solar plant and a 97 MW nuclear plant have the same entry here and produce very different amounts of electricity.

“In service since” is the earliest in-service date among the units still listed, so a site rebuilt around newer equipment can read as younger than the site itself. All California power plants · What California actually generates