How many hydro power plants are in the US?

The US has 1,458 operating utility-scale hydro power plants with 102 GW of capacity, according to the EIA's monthly survey of power plants.

What is the largest hydro power plant in the US?

Grand Coulee in Grant County, Washington is the largest, at 6,809 MW. It came online in 1984.

How many hydro power plants were built in the US in 2025?

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

Who is developing hydro power plants in the US?

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 the United States

The US has 1,458 operating hydro power plants with 102 GW of capacity. 1 came online in 2025.

Operating1,458

Updated monthly. Last updated November 2026.

Under 50 MW50–249 MW250 MW and up

Updated monthly. Last updated November 2026.

The US had 1,429 hydro power plants online in 2016 and 1,458 in 2026

1,429

1,433

1,436

1,439

1,443

1,449

1,452

1,455

1,456

1,457

1,458

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 the US

Operating, by capacity

#	Hydro power plant	Location	Year online	Capacity
1	Grand Coulee	Grant County, Washington	1984	6,809 MW
2	Bath County	Bath County, Virginia	1985	2,862 MW
3	Chief Joseph	Douglas County, Washington	1979	2,456 MW
4	Robert Moses Niagara	Niagara County, New York	1962	2,429 MW
5	John Day	Sherman County, Oregon	1971	2,160 MW
6	Ludington	Mason County, Michigan	1973	1,979 MW
7	The Dalles	Wasco County, Oregon	1973	1,820 MW
8	Raccoon Mountain	Hamilton County, Tennessee	1979	1,714 MW
9	Castaic	Los Angeles County, California	1978	1,682 MW
10	Bad Creek	Oconee County, South Carolina	1991	1,680 MW

Hydro power plants that came online most recently in the US

Newest first

#	Hydro power plant	Location	Year online	Capacity
1	Byllesby	Dakota County, Minnesota	2026	4 MW
2	Hauser	Lewis and Clark County, Montana	2025	17 MW
3	Waterman Turnout Hydroelectric	San Bernardino County, California	2024	1 MW
4	Petersburg	Wrangell Petersburg County, Alaska	2023	2 MW
5	S C Moore	Grafton County, New Hampshire	2023	195 MW
6	Faraday	Clackamas County, Oregon	2023	37 MW
7	Vinelands Power Plant	Mesa County, Colorado	2022	5 MW
8	Notre Dame Hydro	St Joseph County, Indiana	2022	3 MW
9	Madison Dam	Madison County, Montana	2022	16 MW
10	Matilda Hamilton Fee Hydroelectric Stati	Estill County, Kentucky	2021	3 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 the US

How many hydro power plants are in the US?: The US has 1,458 operating utility-scale hydro power plants with 102 GW of capacity, according to the EIA's monthly survey of power plants.
What is the largest hydro power plant in the US?: Grand Coulee in Grant County, Washington is the largest, at 6,809 MW. It came online in 1984.
How many hydro power plants were built in the US in 2025?: 1 hydro power plant came online in the US in 2025, with 17 MW of capacity.
Who is developing hydro power plants in the US?: 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.