Canal

Other power plant · Barnstable County, Massachusetts

Nameplate capacity
1,495 MW
Rank in Massachusetts
#1
of 686 plants
In service since
1968
June 1968

Details

Primary fuel
Other
Technology
Petroleum Liquids
Operator
Canal Generating LLC
County
Barnstable County
Generating units
3
Share of state capacity
10.65%
Rank among other plants in Massachusetts
#1 of 25
EIA plant code
1599

Generating units

Individual generating units at Canal
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
1Petroleum Liquids585 MW560 MW1968Operating
2Petroleum Liquids580 MW559 MW1976Operating
3Petroleum Liquids330 MW330 MW2019Operating

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 Massachusetts

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 1,495 MW solar plant and a 1,495 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 Massachusetts power plants · What Massachusetts actually generates