How many hydro power plants are in Montana?

Montana has 23 operating utility-scale hydro power plants with 2.7 GW of capacity, according to the EIA's monthly survey of power plants.

What is the largest hydro power plant in Montana?

Libby in Lincoln County, Montana is the largest, at 525 MW. It came online in 1984.

How many hydro power plants were built in Montana in 2025?

1 hydro power plant came online in Montana in 2025, with 17 MW of capacity.

Who is developing hydro power plants in Montana?

Interconnection queues list each project under a project company, not the developer behind it. Cleanview researches the developer of every project and has them on paid plans.

Hydro power plants in Montana

Montana has 23 operating hydro power plants with 2.7 GW of capacity. 1 came online in 2025.

Operating23

Updated monthly. Last updated November 2026.

Under 50 MW50–249 MW250 MW and up

Updated monthly. Last updated November 2026.

Montana had 21 hydro power plants online in 2016 and 23 in 2026

2016’162017’172018’182019’192020’202021’212022’222023’232024’242025’252026’26

Hydro power plants online at the end of each year. Source: EIA-860M, compiled by Cleanview.

The 10 largest hydro power plants in Montana

Operating, by capacity

#	Hydro power plant	County	Year online	Capacity
1	Libby	Lincoln County	1984	525 MW
2	Noxon Rapids	Sanders County	1977	488 MW
3	Hungry Horse	Flathead County	1953	428 MW
4	Yellowtail	Big Horn County	1966	278 MW
5	Selis Ksanka Qlispe	Lake County	1954	228 MW
6	Fort Peck	McCone County	1961	180 MW
7	Thompson Falls	Sanders County	1917	98 MW
8	Morony	Cascade County	1930	63 MW
9	Cochrane	Cascade County	1958	59 MW
10	Rainbow (MT)	Cascade County	2013	59 MW

Hydro power plants that came online most recently in Montana

Newest first

#	Hydro power plant	County	Year online	Capacity
1	Hauser	Lewis and Clark County	2025	17 MW
2	Madison Dam	Madison County	2022	16 MW
3	Rainbow (MT)	Cascade County	2013	59 MW
4	Flint Creek Hydroelectric LLC	Granite County	2013	2 MW
5	Turnbull Hydro	Teton County	2011	13 MW
6	Tiber Dam Hydroelectric Plant	Liberty County	2004	8 MW
7	Broadwater Power Project	Broadwater County	1989	10 MW
8	South Dry Creek Hydro	Carbon County	1985	2 MW
9	Libby	Lincoln County	1984	525 MW
10	Noxon Rapids	Sanders County	1977	488 MW

The developer behind each project is on paid plans. See plans

How Cleanview tracks hydro power plants

Operating hydro power plants come from the EIA's monthly survey of power plants. Planned projects come from the grid operators' interconnection queues. We research who is developing each one, since a queue lists a project company, not its owner.

Questions about hydro power plants in Montana

How many hydro power plants are in Montana?: Montana has 23 operating utility-scale hydro power plants with 2.7 GW of capacity, according to the EIA's monthly survey of power plants.
What is the largest hydro power plant in Montana?: Libby in Lincoln County, Montana is the largest, at 525 MW. It came online in 1984.
How many hydro power plants were built in Montana in 2025?: 1 hydro power plant came online in Montana in 2025, with 17 MW of capacity.
Who is developing hydro power plants in Montana?: Interconnection queues list each project under a project company, not the developer behind it. Cleanview researches the developer of every project and has them on paid plans.