How many hydro power plants are in Tennessee?

Tennessee has 29 operating utility-scale hydro power plants with 4.2 GW of capacity, according to the EIA's monthly survey of power plants.

What is the largest hydro power plant in Tennessee?

Raccoon Mountain in Hamilton County, Tennessee is the largest, at 1,714 MW. It came online in 1979.

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

0 hydro power plants came online in Tennessee in 2025, with 0 MW of capacity.

Who is developing hydro power plants in Tennessee?

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 Tennessee

Tennessee has 29 operating hydro power plants with 4.2 GW of capacity.

Operating29

Updated monthly. Last updated November 2026.

Under 50 MW50–249 MW250 MW and up

Updated monthly. Last updated November 2026.

Tennessee had 29 hydro power plants online in 2016 and 29 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 Tennessee

Operating, by capacity

#	Hydro power plant	County	Year online	Capacity
1	Raccoon Mountain	Hamilton County	1979	1,714 MW
2	Pickwick Landing Dam	Hardin County	1952	240 MW
3	Watts Bar Hydro	Rhea County	1944	175 MW
4	Chickamauga	Hamilton County	1952	160 MW
5	Calderwood	Blount County	1938	157 MW
6	Center Hill	DeKalb County	1951	156 MW
7	Fort Loudoun	Loudon County	1949	153 MW
8	Douglas Dam	Sevier County	1954	151 MW
9	Cherokee Dam	Jefferson County	1953	135 MW
10	Norris Dam	Anderson County	1936	131 MW

Hydro power plants that came online most recently in Tennessee

Newest first

#	Hydro power plant	County	Year online	Capacity
1	Tims Ford	Franklin County	1987	46 MW
2	Raccoon Mountain	Hamilton County	1979	1,714 MW
3	Cordell Hull	Smith County	1974	100 MW
4	J P Priest	Davidson County	1970	28 MW
5	Nickajack	Marion County	1968	104 MW
6	Melton Hill	Loudon County	1964	72 MW
7	Cheatham	Dickson County	1958	36 MW
8	Old Hickory	Sumner County	1957	104 MW
9	Chilhowee	Blount County	1957	50 MW
10	Douglas Dam	Sevier County	1954	151 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 Tennessee

How many hydro power plants are in Tennessee?: Tennessee has 29 operating utility-scale hydro power plants with 4.2 GW of capacity, according to the EIA's monthly survey of power plants.
What is the largest hydro power plant in Tennessee?: Raccoon Mountain in Hamilton County, Tennessee is the largest, at 1,714 MW. It came online in 1979.
How many hydro power plants were built in Tennessee in 2025?: 0 hydro power plants came online in Tennessee in 2025, with 0 MW of capacity.
Who is developing hydro power plants in Tennessee?: 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.