Drum 1

Hydro power plant · Placer County, California

Nameplate capacity
49 MW
Rank in California
#448
of 1,897 plants
In service since
1928
June 1928

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Conventional Hydroelectric
Operator
Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
County
Placer County
Generating units
4
Share of state capacity
0.05%
Rank among hydro plants in California
#62 of 244
EIA plant code
235

Generating units

Individual generating units at Drum 1
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
4Conventional Hydroelectric13 MW14 MW1928Operating
1Conventional Hydroelectric12 MW13 MW2013Operating
2Conventional Hydroelectric12 MW13 MW2013Operating
3Conventional Hydroelectric12 MW13 MW2022Operating

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 49 MW solar plant and a 49 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