The site which would be occupied by the Hunters Point Power Plant was first used to build ships and barges in the early 1900s;[1] it is bounded approximately by Jennings (to the northwest), Pier 96 (to the northeast), Evans (on the southwest), and San Francisco Bay / India Basin (on the southeast), although there were numerous fuel storage tanks near the intersection of Jennings and Evans, outside these nominal site boundaries.[2]: Fig.

3-3 The first unit used a steam turbine drawing from a fuel oil-fired boiler; it was built in 1928–29 by the Great Western Power Company.

Great Western Power advertised a construction contract in September 1928 for US$150,000 (equivalent to $2,660,000 in 2023) to build the foundations for an electric generating plant "between Evans, Jennings and Burke avenues, India and Hawes streets".

[2]: 4–1 Units 2 and 3 were added in 1948/49 along with three aboveground fuel storage tanks, and some additional land was reclaimed from San Francisco Bay in the southeast part of the site.

[1] It was one of the oldest and dirtiest oil-fired power plants[7] in the state and was a major source of pollution; studies showed that neighborhood residents were more than twice as likely to suffer from asthma, congestive heart failure, and certain cancers.

[10] California utilities were requested to voluntarily divest at least 50% of their fossil fuel-fired generating assets as that state began deregulation of its electric market in 1996, and HPPP was one of the first four plants that PG&E intended to sell, along with Morro Bay, Moss Landing, and Oakland.

[13] PG&E announced its intent to sell both Hunters Point and Potrero in June 1997,[14] as part of a second auction of fossil-fired and geothermal assets to start in March 1998, also including Contra Costa, Pittsburg, and The Geysers.

[16][17] The California Public Utilities Commission ruled an environmental impact report would be required before PG&E could accept bids, shutting down the planned auction.

[17] Activists continued to hold protests at HPPP[20] until on May 15, 2006, PG&E permanently shut down the plant; the shutdown had been delayed pending a reliable source of replacement power, which had required upgrades to transmission lines along the Peninsula (Jefferson-Martin Transmission Project)[21] and under San Francisco Bay (Trans Bay Cable).

[2]: 4–1 The site was expanded through extensive filling of the Bay north of Evans and east of Jennings between 1947 and 1958, adding approximately 80 to 100 acres (32 to 40 ha) of land.

[2]: 4–2 Units 2 and 3 drew from four boilers (designated S3 through S6) with a collective thermal power of 2,680 million British thermal units per hour (790 MW);[31] their collective electric output was 235 MW (315×10^3 hp), including two smaller turbines designated to serve "house" loads associated with power plant operation.