James B Black is a hydroelectric facility with 168.6 MW of EIA-reported nameplate capacity in Shasta County, California, registered as EIA Plant ID 249. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. owns and operates the plant. Black is the largest powerhouse in the 368-MW McCloud-Pit Hydroelectric Project by regulatory maximum capacity, at 172 MW.
EIA-reported nameplate capacity; other nameplate and seasonal ratings may differ.
Primary generation technology.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. · Shasta County · CAISO
James B Black is currently operating; a closure or retirement is listed for 2026.
230 kV · Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E)
Conventional Hydroelectric
James B Black is currently operating; a closure or retirement is listed for 2026.
James B Black is currently operating; a closure or retirement is listed for 2026.
230 kV · Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E)
Similar plants ranked by technology, capacity, and distance.
Operating generator records and technology attributes reported through EIA-860.
| Generator | Capacity | Technology | Operation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 85.1 MW 86 MW summer | Conventional Hydroelectric Water · HY | Feb 1966 | Operating |
| 2 | 83.5 MW 86 MW summer | Conventional Hydroelectric Water · HY | Dec 1965 | Operating |
Monthly EIA generation history and recent market-resource behavior where linked telemetry is available.
Deterministic links to ERCOT market resources, price records, outage disclosures, queue records, and nearby infrastructure. Candidate joins remain labeled until corroborated.
Source-backed project transactions, agreements, land records, permits, and environmental disclosures. Portfolio and adjacent-project facts remain explicitly scoped.
Parties, market resources, and identifiers tied to this asset, with owner, operator, developer, EPC, compliance provider, and interconnecting entity roles kept separate.
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Project milestones and public references behind the asset profile.
The original FERC license for the McCloud-Pit Project was issued on August 18, 1961.
CAISO
CAISO · Shasta County
Monthly generation is reported through EIA-923. Capacity factor uses the current EIA nameplate capacity and is shown only for complete calendar years.
| Largest reported plants | Capacity | State | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diablo Canyon | 2,323 MW | CA | |
| Helms Pumped Storage | 1,053 MW | CA | |
| Colusa Generating Station | 712.4 MW | CA | |
| Gateway Generating Station | 619.7 MW | CA | |
| James B BlackCurrent | 168.6 MW | CA | |
| Humboldt Bay | 167 MW | CA | |
| Poe | 142.8 MW | CA | |
| Pit 5 | 141.6 MW | CA |
Portfolio membership follows the latest EIA-860 reporting entity. It does not imply ultimate ownership.
View full reporting portfolioFERC's project description states that James B. Black Unit 2 was commissioned in 1965.
EIA-860 lists generator 2 with this operating date.
FERC's project description states that James B. Black Unit 1 was commissioned in 1966.
EIA-860 lists generator 1 with this operating date.
The original FERC license expired on July 31, 2011; the project subsequently remained subject to the relicensing process.
The California State Water Resources Control Board issued water-quality certification for the McCloud-Pit Project as part of Order WQ 2026-0019.
Answered from the published record above. Questions whose inputs this profile does not carry are omitted rather than estimated.
James B Black has a reported capacity of 168.6 MW. Source: EIA Form 860.
James B Black is a Conventional Hydroelectric facility in Shasta County, CA, participating in the CAISO market.
James B Black is in Shasta County, CA, inside the CAISO balancing area.
James B Black is operated by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. according to the EIA generator inventory. Reporting membership does not by itself establish ultimate ownership.
James B Black reported 512.8 GWh over the twelve months to 2026-06. Figures are net generation as filed to EIA-923.
James B Black interconnects at James B. Black Switchyard, on the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) system.
By capacity, James B Black ranks #88 of 1,349 operating plants of the same technology nationally. It ranks #14 of 210 in CA.
Plants within 25 km, nearest first, regardless of technology. Proximity is straight-line distance between mapped plant coordinates; it does not by itself establish a shared point of interconnection.
