Home / Power plants / California / Caribou 1

Caribou 1

Hydro power plant · Plumas County, California

Nameplate capacity
74 MW
Rank in California
#349
of 1,899 plants
In service since
1921
June 1921

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Conventional Hydroelectric
Operator
Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
County
Plumas County
Generating units
3
Share of state capacity
0.07%
Rank among hydro plants in California
#52 of 244
EIA plant code
222

Generating units

Individual generating units at Caribou 1
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
2Conventional Hydroelectric25 MW25 MW1921Operating
3Conventional Hydroelectric25 MW25 MW1924Operating
1Conventional Hydroelectric24 MW25 MW1921Operating

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

W E WarneHydro74 MW
Loon LakeHydro74 MW
CrestaHydro74 MW
DonnellsHydro72 MW

About this data

From EIA’s inventory of operable generators, June 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 74 MW solar plant and a 74 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