Waters River
Natural gas power plant · Essex County, Massachusetts
Details
- Primary fuel
- Natural gas
- Technology
- Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine
- Operator
- City of Peabody - (MA)
- County
- Essex County
- Generating units
- 2
- Share of state capacity
- 0.46%
- Rank among natural gas plants in Massachusetts
- #19 of 40
- EIA plant code
- 1678
Generating units
| Unit | Technology | Nameplate | Summer | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | 44 MW | 30 MW | 1990 | Operating |
| 1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | 21 MW | 16 MW | 1971 | Operating |
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
| M Street Jet | Other | 69 MW |
| MMWEC Simple Cycle Gas Turbine | Natural gas | 65 MW |
| Cabot | Hydro | 62 MW |
| Wheelabrator Saugus | Other | 58 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 65 MW solar plant and a 65 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