The power plant locations and characteristics are part of the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) California Energy Infrastructure geospatial data sets. The data is derived from the CEC’s QFER-1304 Power Plant Owner Reporting Database and is updated annually. Among other information, a number of identifying attributes are given for each power plant as well as the generator units at each plant, their energy type, the total nameplate capacity, and their owners and operators.

This California Power Plants data set has identical information to the many tables making up the QFER data set, however this single feature layer is derived by condensing several QFER tables into one. Some fields of the original tables have been omitted, and point geometries, determined by each plants’ address fields, have been appended for geospatial display. Four new fields have been compiled from QFER’s Annual Generation Table. These are listed and defined as:

• Nameplate Capacity (MW): The total nameplate capacity from every unit that makes up the power plant, regardless of status 
• Units: List of the unit names at each power plant 
• Primary Energy Source: A list of the primary energy sources used by every generator at the plant
• Last Reported Year: The last year that the power plant was recorded in the Annual Generation Table.

Primary Energy Source Descriptions:

Source Type Description AB Biomass Agriculture Crop Byproducts/Straw/Energy Crops BAT Battery Battery Storage - not to be counted as a primary fuel/energy source BFG Natural Gas Blast Furnace Gas BIT Coal Bituminous Coal BLQ Biomass Black Liquor COL Coal Anthracite Coal DFO Oil Distillate Fuel Oil (includes all Diesel and No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 Fuel Oils)  GAS Oil Gasoline GEO Geothermal Geothermal JF Oil Jet Fuel  KER  Oil Kerosene  LFG Biomass Landfill Gas LIG Coal Lignite Coal LWAT Large Hydro Large Hydro MSW Biomass Municipal Solid Waste N/A Unspecified Other, non-specified NA Unspecified Not Available NG Natural Gas Natural Gas (Methane - Pipeline Weighted National Average w/ HHV 1,050 Btu/scf) NUC Nuclear Nuclear (Uranium, Plutonium, Thorium) OBG Biomass Other Biomass Gases (Digester Gas, Methane, and other biomass gases) OBL Biomass Other Biomass Liquid (Ethanol, Fish Oil, Liquid Acetonitrile Waste, Medical Waste, Tall Oil, Waste Alcohol, and other Biomass not specified) OBS Biomass Other Biomass Solid (Animal Manure and Waste, Solid Byproducts, and other solid biomass not specified)  OG Natural Gas Other Gas (Butane, Coal Processes, Coke-Oven, Refinery, and other processes) OGW Biomass Other gases, waste products OIL Oil Non-specified oil products, may include distillate fuel oil OTH  Other Other (Batteries, Chemicals, Coke Breeze, Hydrogen, Pitch, Sulfur, Tar Coal, and miscellaneous technologies) PC Petroleum Coke Petroleum Coke (Solid) PG Natural Gas Propane PUR Other Purchased Steam RFO Oil Residual Fuel Oil (includes No. 5 and No. 6 Fuel Oils and Bunker C Fuel Oil) SC Coal Coal-based Synfuel and include briquettes, pellets, or extrusions, which are formed by binding materials and processes that recycle material SLW Biomass Sludge Waste (Waste Oil blended with Residual Fuel Oil) SUB Coal Sub-bituminous Coal SUN Solar Solar (Photovoltaic, Thermal) SWAT Small Hydro Small Hydro, Eligible Hydroelectric for RPS TDF Biomass Tires UNK Unspecified Other, non specified UNSP Unspecified Unspecified WAT Hydro (Large and Small) Water (Conventional, Pumped Storage) WC Coal Waste/Other Coal (Anthracite Culm, Bituminous Gob, Fine Coal, Lignite Waste, Waste Coal)  WDL Biomass Wood Waste Liquids (Red Liquor, Sludge Wood, Spent Sulfite Liquor, and other wood related liquids not  WDS Biomass Wood/Wood Waste Solids (Paper Pellets, Railroad Ties, Utility Poles, Wood Chips, and other wood solids) WH Waste Heat Waste Heat WND Wind Wind WO Oil Oil-Other and Waste Oil (Butane (Liquid), Crude Oil, Liquid Byproducts, Oil Waste, Propane (Liquid),
Re-refined 

The purpose of this feature layer is to:

• Support the CEC/Energy Assessments Division/Supply Analysis Office in electric generation report;
  
• Support the CEC/REAT by providing information on renewable power plant location and capacity;
• Support the CEC/STEP/Engineering Office/Geo Science in water management report;
• Support CEC/STEP/Siting Office, Compliance Office, Environmental Office, Engineering Office, and /Strategic Transmission Planning and Corridor Designation Office  by providing information on power plant location, capacity, fuel type, operational status, CEC docket id, etc.    
• Support the CEC/STEP/Strategic Transmission Planning and Corridor Designation Office in corridor study and transmission line siting;   
• Support the CEC staff's various analysis by providing general geographic reference information;
• Enhance communication between government agencies on emergency management, resource management, economic development, and environmental study;
• Provide illustration of critical infrastructure spatial data to the public or other agencies