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Northfield Mountain

Hydro power plant · Franklin County, Massachusetts

Nameplate capacity
1,168 MW
Rank in Massachusetts
#2
of 686 plants
In service since
1972
November 1972

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Hydroelectric Pumped Storage
Operator
FirstLight Power Resources, Inc. - MA
County
Franklin County
Generating units
4
Share of state capacity
8.32%
Rank among hydro plants in Massachusetts
#1 of 32
EIA plant code
547

Generating units

Individual generating units at Northfield Mountain
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
1Hydroelectric Pumped Storage292 MW292 MW1973Operating
2Hydroelectric Pumped Storage292 MW292 MW1973Operating
3Hydroelectric Pumped Storage292 MW292 MW1973Operating
4Hydroelectric Pumped Storage292 MW292 MW1972Operating

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

CanalOther1,495 MW
Fore River Generating StationNatural gas872 MW
Vineyard Wind 1Wind800 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 1,168 MW solar plant and a 1,168 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