Belden

Hydro power plant · Plumas County, California

Nameplate capacity
118 MW
Rank in California
#239
of 1,897 plants
In service since
1969
September 1969

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Conventional Hydroelectric
Operator
Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
County
Plumas County
Generating units
1
Share of state capacity
0.11%
Rank among hydro plants in California
#32 of 244
EIA plant code
219

Generating units

Individual generating units at Belden
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
1Conventional Hydroelectric118 MW125 MW1969Operating

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

Windstar 1Wind120 MW
Orange Grove Peaking FacilityNatural gas118 MW
Caribou 2Hydro118 MW
KeswickHydro117 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 118 MW solar plant and a 118 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