How much power is created from one generator in one day?
How many houses can this provide power to?
This varies according to the size of the generators.
For example, the Bureau of Reclamation's generators in the United States range in size from 350 kilowatts (kW) to 805,000 kW.
The maximum power that could be generated per day from each of those units therefore ranges from 8,400 kilowatt-hours (kWh) (350 kW times 24 hours) to 19,320,000 kWh per day (805,000 kW times 24 hours).
The average size of these generators is about 76,000 kW which would result in an average maximum production of about 1,824,000 kWh per day (76,000 kW times 24 hours).
Since the average household in the United States uses about 1,000 kWh of electricity per month or 33.3 kWh per day, this average unit could supply around 50,000 houses. However hydroelectric units are usually not base loaded (operated at full load or at a given load level continuously) as they are subject to water limitations at time and are also much more useful to the system as load followers. This is because they can respond quickly to changing load needs and are therefore able to follow the ups and downs of the system throughout the day.
The actual production varies each year from about 25 % to 45% of the maximum rated output of the units due to water availability (drought or flood years, etc.) and system requirements.