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Spaulding 3

Hydro power plant · Nevada County, California

Nameplate capacity
6.6 MW
Rank in California
#927
of 1,897 plants
In service since
1929
February 1929

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Conventional Hydroelectric
Operator
Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
County
Nevada County
Generating units
1
Share of state capacity
0.01%
Rank among hydro plants in California
#144 of 244
EIA plant code
283

Generating units

Individual generating units at Spaulding 3
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
1Conventional Hydroelectric6.6 MW5.8 MW1929Operating

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

MM West CovinaOther6.8 MW
SouthHydro6.7 MW
SunSelect1Natural gas6.6 MW
WWTP Power Generation StationOther6.6 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 6.6 MW solar plant and a 6.6 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