James B Black
Hydro power plant · Shasta County, California
Nameplate capacity
169 MW
Rank in California
#158
of 1,897 plants
In service since
1965
December 1965
Details
- Primary fuel
- Hydro
- Technology
- Conventional Hydroelectric
- Operator
- Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
- County
- Shasta County
- Generating units
- 2
- Share of state capacity
- 0.16%
- Rank among hydro plants in California
- #18 of 244
- EIA plant code
- 249
Generating units
| Unit | Technology | Nameplate | Summer | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conventional Hydroelectric | 85 MW | 86 MW | 1966 | Operating |
| 2 | Conventional Hydroelectric | 84 MW | 86 MW | 1965 | 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
| Lockhart Solar PV, LLC | Solar | 169 MW |
| Sanborn BESS 3 | Battery storage | 169 MW |
| Alta Wind Energy Center V | Wind | 168 MW |
| BigBeau Solar, LLC | Solar | 168 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 169 MW solar plant and a 169 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