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Union Valley

Hydro power plant · El Dorado County, California

Nameplate capacity
39 MW
Rank in California
#519
of 1,897 plants
In service since
1963
October 1963

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Conventional Hydroelectric
Operator
Sacramento Municipal Util Dist
County
El Dorado County
Generating units
1
Share of state capacity
0.04%
Rank among hydro plants in California
#71 of 244
EIA plant code
6612

Generating units

Individual generating units at Union Valley
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
1Conventional Hydroelectric39 MW39 MW1963Operating

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

Salka Cabazon WindWind39 MW
Berry CogenNatural gas39 MW
Coalinga CogenerationNatural gas38 MW
Total Energy FacilitiesOther38 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 39 MW solar plant and a 39 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