Poe

Hydro power plant · Butte County, California

Nameplate capacity
143 MW
Rank in California
#197
of 1,897 plants
In service since
1958
October 1958

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Conventional Hydroelectric
Operator
Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
County
Butte County
Generating units
2
Share of state capacity
0.13%
Rank among hydro plants in California
#23 of 244
EIA plant code
272

Generating units

Individual generating units at Poe
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
1Conventional Hydroelectric71 MW60 MW1958Operating
2Conventional Hydroelectric71 MW60 MW1958Operating

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

Gilroy Peaking Energy CenterNatural gas144 MW
Tule Wind LLCWind143 MW
McClureOther142 MW
Pit 5Hydro142 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 143 MW solar plant and a 143 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