Hiwassee Dam
Hydro power plant · Cherokee County, North Carolina
Details
- Primary fuel
- Hydro
- Technology
- Hydroelectric Pumped Storage
- Operator
- Tennessee Valley Authority
- County
- Cherokee County
- Generating units
- 2
- Share of state capacity
- 0.41%
- Rank among hydro plants in North Carolina
- #4 of 38
- EIA plant code
- 2780
Generating units
| Unit | Technology | Nameplate | Summer | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Hydroelectric Pumped Storage | 95 MW | 86 MW | 1956 | Operating |
| 1 | Conventional Hydroelectric | 71 MW | 88 MW | 1940 | 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 North Carolina
| Rosemary Power Station | Other | 180 MW |
| Gaston | Hydro | 178 MW |
| W H Weatherspoon | Other | 163 MW |
| American Beech Solar LLC | Solar | 140 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 166 MW solar plant and a 166 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 North Carolina power plants · What North Carolina actually generates