Power Plants in New Jersey

New Jersey holds 18.2 gigawatts of generating capacity, ranking 30th among the 51 states and territories. Nameplate capacity is what the equipment could produce running flat out; it is not generation, and differs from how much power these plants actually make in a year. Natural gas dominates the fleet at 68.3% of capacity across 51 plants, while nuclear contributes 20.2% from just 2 plants. Solar provides 6.9% through 343 installations, hydro accounts for 2.6% from 3 plants, and the remainder comes from battery storage, wind, and other sources.

The five largest plants span generations of technology. PSEG Salem Generating Station, a nuclear facility first built in January 1971, leads at 2,382 megawatts across 3 units. Linden Generating Station, a natural gas plant from January 1995, holds 1,740 megawatts in 10 units. Bergen Generating Station, also natural gas, provides 1,401 megawatts from 8 units since January 1959. PSEG Hope Creek Generating Station, the second nuclear plant, has 1,291 megawatts in a single unit online since January 1986. Linden Cogen Plant rounds out the top five with 974 megawatts from 9 natural gas units starting in January 1992.

The state's fleet spans nine decades. The oldest plant still listed is Passaic Valley Water Commission, first online in January 1935. The newest is Changewater 1, which entered service in May 2026. Between them sit 425 plants tracked by EIA, including every installation down to sub-megawatt backup generators; this large count reflects the variety of small installations rather than overall fleet size, which capacity measures.