Drop 1

Hydro power plant · Imperial County, California

Nameplate capacity
5.7 MW
Rank in California
#961
of 1,897 plants
In service since
1984
October 1984

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Conventional Hydroelectric
Operator
Imperial Irrigation District
County
Imperial County
Generating units
3
Share of state capacity
0.01%
Rank among hydro plants in California
#151 of 244
EIA plant code
585

Generating units

Individual generating units at Drop 1
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
1Conventional Hydroelectric1.9 MW1.3 MW1984Operating
2Conventional Hydroelectric1.9 MW1.2 MW1984Operating
3Conventional Hydroelectric1.9 MW1.3 MW1984Operating

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

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 5.7 MW solar plant and a 5.7 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