Home / Power plants / California / Salton Sea Power Gen Co - Unit 3

Salton Sea Power Gen Co - Unit 3

Other power plant · Imperial County, California

Nameplate capacity
54 MW
Rank in California
#415
of 1,897 plants
In service since
1989
February 1989

Details

Primary fuel
Other
Technology
Geothermal
Operator
CalEnergy Operating Corporation
County
Imperial County
Generating units
1
Share of state capacity
0.05%
Rank among other plants in California
#21 of 152
EIA plant code
10759

Generating units

Individual generating units at Salton Sea Power Gen Co - Unit 3
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
GEN1Geothermal54 MW50 MW1989Operating

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

Stockton BiomassOther54 MW
Valley Center 54Battery storage54 MW
Drum 2Hydro53 MW
Tiger CreekHydro52 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 54 MW solar plant and a 54 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