core_eia860__scd_plants
Slowly changing dimension (SCD) table describing attributes of plants which may vary from year to year. Compiled from across all EIA-860 and EIA-923 data.
- Most-recent data:
2026
- Processing:
Data has been cleaned and organized into well-modeled tables that serve as building blocks for downstream wide tables and analyses.
- Source:
EIA Form 860 -- Annual Electric Generator Report
- Primary key:
plant_id_eia, report_date
Usage Warnings
Data has been drawn from several EIA sources which are not always consistent with each other, and PUDL chooses the most consistent or relevant value to facilitate cross-referencing even if that means some values will differ from the raw sources. See Harvesting for details, and see Entity Resolution Methodology for a fuller conceptual overview.
Contains information from multiple raw inputs.
Additional Details
This is one of two tables where canonical values for plants are set. It contains values which are expected to vary slowly, while core_eia__entity_plants contains those expected to remain fixed. EIA reports many attributes in many different tables across EIA-860 and EIA-923. In order to compile tidy, well-normalized database tables, PUDL collects all instances of these values and and chooses a canonical value. By default, PUDL chooses the most consistently reported value of a given attribute as long as it is at least 70% of the given instances reported. If an attribute was reported inconsistently across the original EIA tables, then it will show up as a null value. See /methodology/entity_resolution for a conceptual overview of this process. All tables downstream of this one inherit the canonical values established here.
Columns
The unique six-digit facility identification number, also called an ORISPL, assigned by the Energy Information Administration.
Date reported.
Is there an ash impoundment (e.g. pond, reservoir) at the plant?
If there is an ash impoundment at the plant, is the impoundment lined?
If there is an ash impoundment at the plant, the ash impoundment status as of December 31 of the reporting year.
EIA short code identifying a balancing authority. May include Canadian and Mexican BAs.
Name of the balancing authority.
Geodetic coordinate system identifier (e.g. NAD27, NAD83, or WGS84).
Indicates if the facility has energy storage capabilities.
The docket number relating to the FERC cogenerator status. See FERC Form 556.
Indicates whether the plant has FERC qualifying facility cogenerator status. See FERC Form 556.
The docket number relating to the FERC qualifying facility exempt wholesale generator status.
Indicates whether the plant has FERC qualifying facility exempt wholesale generator status
The docket number relating to the FERC qualifying facility small power producer status. See FERC Form 556.
Indicates whether the plant has FERC qualifying facility small power producer status. See FERC Form 556.
The docket number relating to the FERC qualifying facility cogenerator status. See FERC Form 556.
Plant's grid voltage at point of interconnection to transmission or distribution facilities
Plant's grid voltage at point of interconnection to transmission or distribution facilities
Plant's grid voltage at point of interconnection to transmission or distribution facilities
The code of the plant's ISO or RTO. NA if not reported in that year.
Indicates if the facility have the capability to store the natural gas in the form of liquefied natural gas.
Names of Local Distribution Company (LDC), connected to natural gas burning power plants.
Indicates if the facility have on-site storage of natural gas.
The name of the owner or operator of natural gas pipeline that connects directly to this facility or that connects to a lateral pipeline owned by this facility.
The name of the owner or operator of natural gas pipeline that connects directly to this facility or that connects to a lateral pipeline owned by this facility.
The name of the owner or operator of natural gas pipeline that connects directly to this facility or that connects to a lateral pipeline owned by this facility.
NERC region in which the plant is located
Whether the plant has a net metering agreement in effect during the reporting year. (Only displayed for facilities that report the sun or wind as an energy source). This field was only reported up until 2015
Additional owner or operator of natural gas pipeline.
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code that best describes the primary purpose of the reporting plant
Indicates whether the plant is regulated or non-regulated.
Code that specifies what time period data has to be reported (i.e. monthly data or annual totals) and how often the power plant reports this data to EIA. See reporting_frequencies_eia for more details.
EIA assigned sector ID, corresponding to high level NAICS sector, designated by the primary purpose, regulatory status and plant-level combined heat and power status
EIA assigned sector name, corresponding to high level NAICS sector, designated by the primary purpose, regulatory status and plant-level combined heat and power status
Service area in which plant is located; for unregulated companies, it's the electric utility with which plant is interconnected
EIA-assigned code for owner of transmission/distribution system to which the plant is interconnected.
Name of the owner of the transmission or distribution system to which the plant is interconnected.
State location for owner of transmission/distribution system to which the plant is interconnected.
The EIA Utility Identification number.
Name of water source associated with the plant.
Maturity of the source data published by EIA that is reflected in this record. EIA releases data incrementally over time, including monthly updates, annual year-to-date updates, provisional early releases of annual data, and final annual release data that is not expected to change further. Records sourced from multiple upstream EIA datasets may have no well defined data maturity. Records whose values have been inferred within PUDL will also have no data maturity.