Home / Power plants / California / Salton Sea Power Gen Co - Unit 2

Salton Sea Power Gen Co - Unit 2

Other power plant · Imperial County, California

Nameplate capacity
20 MW
Rank in California
#694
of 1,897 plants
In service since
1990
March 1990

Details

Primary fuel
Other
Technology
Geothermal
Operator
CalEnergy Operating Corporation
County
Imperial County
Generating units
3
Share of state capacity
0.02%
Rank among other plants in California
#54 of 152
EIA plant code
10879

Generating units

Individual generating units at Salton Sea Power Gen Co - Unit 2
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
GEN1Geothermal12 MW17 MW1990Operating
GEN2Geothermal5.0 MW4.0 MW1990Operating
GEN3Geothermal3.5 MW2.1 MW1990Operating

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 20 MW solar plant and a 20 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