36th largest plant in Nevada · 2251st nationally
Mcginness Hills is a geothermal power plant in Nevada with a nameplate capacity of 116 MW. It generates roughly 642.5k MWh per year — enough to power about 61,186 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 63% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time.
| Plant Name | Mcginness Hills |
|---|---|
| Operator | Ormat Nevada Inc |
| City | Austin |
| County | Lander County |
| State | Nevada |
| ZIP | 89310 |
| Coordinates | 39.59110, -116.91190 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Geothermal | Geothermal | 20.0 MW | Operating | 2012 |
| 2 | Geothermal | Geothermal | 20.0 MW | Operating | 2012 |
| OEC21 | Geothermal | Geothermal | 18.0 MW | Operating | 2015 |
| OEC22 | Geothermal | Geothermal | 18.0 MW | Operating | 2015 |
| OE23R | Geothermal | Geothermal | 16.0 MW | Operating | 2023 |
| 3 | Geothermal | Geothermal | 12.0 MW | Operating | 2012 |
| OEC23 | Geothermal | Geothermal | 12.0 MW | Retired | 2015 |
| NERC Region | WECC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Nevada Power Company |
Geothermal plants tap heat from underground reservoirs to spin steam turbines. They provide carbon-free baseload power with very high capacity factors, but they only work where hot rock is accessible — primarily in the western U.S.