How many hydro power plants are in California?

California has 245 operating utility-scale hydro power plants with 14 GW of capacity, according to the EIA's monthly survey of power plants.

What is the largest hydro power plant in California?

Castaic in Los Angeles County, California is the largest, at 1,682 MW. It came online in 1978.

How many hydro power plants were built in California in 2025?

0 hydro power plants came online in California in 2025, with 0 MW of capacity.

Who is developing hydro power plants in California?

Interconnection queues list each project under a project company, not the developer behind it. Cleanview researches the developer of every project and has them on paid plans.

Hydro power plants in California

California has 245 operating hydro power plants with 14 GW of capacity.

Operating245

Updated monthly. Last updated November 2026.

Under 50 MW50–249 MW250 MW and up

Updated monthly. Last updated November 2026.

California had 242 hydro power plants online in 2016 and 245 in 2026

242

243

244

245

2016’162017’172018’182019’192020’202021’212022’222023’232024’242025’252026’26

Hydro power plants online at the end of each year. Source: EIA-860M, compiled by Cleanview.

The 10 largest hydro power plants in California

Operating, by capacity

#	Hydro power plant	County	Year online	Capacity
1	Castaic	Los Angeles County	1978	1,682 MW
2	Helms Pumped Storage	Fresno County	1984	1,053 MW
3	Shasta	Shasta County	1949	714 MW
4	Edward C Hyatt	Butte County	1969	644 MW
5	W R Gianelli	Merced County	1968	424 MW
6	Colgate	Yuba County	1969	315 MW
7	New Melones	Tuolumne County	1979	300 MW
8	Devil Canyon	San Bernardino County	1994	276 MW
9	White Rock/Slab Creek	El Dorado County	2020	269 MW
10	Collierville Powerhouse	Calaveras County	1989	253 MW

Hydro power plants that came online most recently in California

Newest first

#	Hydro power plant	County	Year online	Capacity
1	Waterman Turnout Hydroelectric	San Bernardino County	2024	1 MW
2	White Rock/Slab Creek	El Dorado County	2020	269 MW
3	Friant Hydro Facility	Fresno County	2017	38 MW
4	Baker Creek Hydroelectric	Humboldt County	2014	2 MW
5	Tulloch	Tuolumne County	2012	30 MW
6	Gas Utilization Facility	San Diego County	2002	2 MW
7	Diamond Valley Lake	Riverside County	2001	30 MW
8	Santa Ana 3	San Bernardino County	1999	3 MW
9	Mojave Siphon	San Bernardino County	1996	33 MW
10	Etiwanda	San Bernardino County	1994	24 MW

The developer behind each project is on paid plans. See plans

How Cleanview tracks hydro power plants

Operating hydro power plants come from the EIA's monthly survey of power plants. Planned projects come from the grid operators' interconnection queues. We research who is developing each one, since a queue lists a project company, not its owner.

Questions about hydro power plants in California

How many hydro power plants are in California?: California has 245 operating utility-scale hydro power plants with 14 GW of capacity, according to the EIA's monthly survey of power plants.
What is the largest hydro power plant in California?: Castaic in Los Angeles County, California is the largest, at 1,682 MW. It came online in 1978.
How many hydro power plants were built in California in 2025?: 0 hydro power plants came online in California in 2025, with 0 MW of capacity.
Who is developing hydro power plants in California?: Interconnection queues list each project under a project company, not the developer behind it. Cleanview researches the developer of every project and has them on paid plans.