Potter Valley
Hydro power plant · Mendocino County, California · not currently in service
Details
- Primary fuel
- Hydro
- Technology
- Conventional Hydroelectric
- Operator
- Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
- County
- Mendocino County
- Generating units
- 3
- Share of state capacity
- 0.01%
- Rank among hydro plants in California
- #126 of 244
- EIA plant code
- 274
Generating units
| Unit | Technology | Nameplate | Summer | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conventional Hydroelectric | 4.4 MW | 4.5 MW | 1939 | Out of service and NOT expected to return to service in next calendar year |
| 3 | Conventional Hydroelectric | 3.0 MW | 2.7 MW | 2017 | Out of service and NOT expected to return to service in next calendar year |
| 2 | Conventional Hydroelectric | 2.0 MW | 2.0 MW | 2010 | Out of service and NOT expected to return to service in next calendar year |
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
| Blacksand Generating Facility | Natural gas | 9.6 MW |
| Solar Star California, XLIV, LLC | Solar | 9.5 MW |
| Big Valley Power LLC | Other | 9.3 MW |
| Ameresco Chiquita Canyon | Other | 9.2 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 9.4 MW solar plant and a 9.4 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