El Vado Dam
Hydro power plant · Rio Arriba County, New Mexico
Nameplate capacity
8.0 MW
Rank in New Mexico
#110
of 169 plants
In service since
1988
May 1988
Details
- Primary fuel
- Hydro
- Technology
- Conventional Hydroelectric
- Operator
- Los Alamos County
- County
- Rio Arriba County
- Generating units
- 1
- Share of state capacity
- 0.04%
- Rank among hydro plants in New Mexico
- #4 of 4
- EIA plant code
- 7593
Generating units
| Unit | Technology | Nameplate | Summer | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conventional Hydroelectric | 8.0 MW | 8.0 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 New Mexico
| Manzano Solar | Solar | 8.4 MW |
| City of Gallup Solar | Solar | 8.0 MW |
| Otero Solar | Solar | 8.0 MW |
| Cibola | Solar | 7.6 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 8.0 MW solar plant and a 8.0 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 New Mexico power plants · What New Mexico actually generates