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Purple Lake

Hydro power plant · Prince of Wales Ketchikan County, Alaska

Nameplate capacity
3.9 MW
Rank in Alaska
#81
of 150 plants
In service since
1956
January 1956

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Conventional Hydroelectric
Operator
Metlakatla Power & Light
County
Prince of Wales Ketchikan County
Generating units
3
Share of state capacity
0.13%
Rank among hydro plants in Alaska
#22 of 30
EIA plant code
6302

Generating units

Individual generating units at Purple Lake
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
1Conventional Hydroelectric1.3 MW1.3 MW1956Operating
2Conventional Hydroelectric1.3 MW1.3 MW1956Operating
3Conventional Hydroelectric1.3 MW1.3 MW1962Operating

Nameplate is the maximum rated output; summer capacity is what the unit can reliably deliver on a hot day, which is typically lower.

Similarly sized plants in Alaska

Goat Lake HydroHydro4.0 MW
King CoveOther3.9 MW
False IslandOther3.8 MW
YakutatOther3.8 MW

About this data

From EIA’s inventory of operable generators, May 2026 release. Capacity is nameplate — the maximum rated output of the equipment, not what the plant actually generates over a year, which depends on how often it runs. A 3.9 MW solar plant and a 3.9 MW nuclear plant have the same entry here and produce very different amounts of electricity.

“In service since” is the earliest in-service date among the units still listed, so a site rebuilt around newer equipment can read as younger than the site itself. All Alaska power plants · What Alaska actually generates