St. Cloud Hydro
Hydro power plant · Stearns County, Minnesota
Nameplate capacity
8.6 MW
Rank in Minnesota
#153
of 804 plants
In service since
1988
June 1988
Details
- Primary fuel
- Hydro
- Technology
- Conventional Hydroelectric
- Operator
- St. Cloud Hydroelectric Generation Facility
- County
- Stearns County
- Generating units
- 2
- Share of state capacity
- 0.04%
- Rank among hydro plants in Minnesota
- #9 of 22
- EIA plant code
- 64242
Generating units
| Unit | Technology | Nameplate | Summer | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEN#1 | Conventional Hydroelectric | 4.3 MW | 4.3 MW | 1988 | Operating |
| GEN#2 | Conventional Hydroelectric | 4.3 MW | 4.3 MW | 1988 | 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 Minnesota
| St. Charles Power Plant | Other | 8.8 MW |
| Blooming Prairie | Other | 8.6 MW |
| Redwood Falls | Natural gas | 8.5 MW |
| West Waconia Solar | Solar | 8.5 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 8.6 MW solar plant and a 8.6 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 Minnesota power plants · What Minnesota actually generates