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Geysers Unit 5-20

Other power plant · Sonoma County, California

Nameplate capacity

1,236 MW

Rank in California

of 1,897 plants

In service since

1971

April 1971

Details

Primary fuel: Other
Technology: Geothermal
Operator: Geysers Power Co LLC
County: Sonoma County
Generating units: 12
Share of state capacity: 1.15%
Rank among other plants in California: #1 of 152
EIA plant code: 286

Generating units

Individual generating units at Geysers Unit 5-20
Unit	Technology	Nameplate	Summer	Online	Status
U13	Geothermal	140 MW	65 MW	1980	Operating
U14	Geothermal	124 MW	60 MW	1980	Operating
U16	Geothermal	124 MW	60 MW	1985	Operating
U17	Geothermal	124 MW	60 MW	1982	Operating
U18	Geothermal	124 MW	60 MW	1983	Operating
U20	Geothermal	124 MW	50 MW	1985	Operating
U11	Geothermal	119 MW	68 MW	1975	Operating
U12	Geothermal	119 MW	51 MW	1979	Operating
U5	Geothermal	59 MW	45 MW	1971	Operating
U6	Geothermal	59 MW	45 MW	1971	Operating
U7	Geothermal	59 MW	40 MW	1972	Operating
U8	Geothermal	59 MW	40 MW	1972	Operating

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

Castaic	Hydro	1,682 MW
Ormond Beach	Natural gas	1,612 MW
La Paloma Generating Plant	Natural gas	1,156 MW
AES Alamitos LLC	Natural gas	1,115 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 1,236 MW solar plant and a 1,236 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