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Laurel Dam

Hydro power plant · Laurel County, Kentucky

Nameplate capacity
70 MW
Rank in Kentucky
#36
of 63 plants
In service since
1977
November 1977

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Conventional Hydroelectric
Operator
USCE-Nashville District
County
Laurel County
Generating units
1
Share of state capacity
0.31%
Rank among hydro plants in Kentucky
#8 of 11
EIA plant code
6171

Generating units

Individual generating units at Laurel Dam
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
1Conventional Hydroelectric70 MW61 MW1977Operating

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 Kentucky

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 70 MW solar plant and a 70 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 Kentucky power plants · What Kentucky actually generates