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Michell Butte Power Project

Hydro power plant · Malheur County, Oregon

Nameplate capacity
2.0 MW
Rank in Oregon
#259
of 301 plants
In service since
1989
May 1989

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Conventional Hydroelectric
Operator
Owyhee Irrigation District
County
Malheur County
Generating units
2
Share of state capacity
0.01%
Rank among hydro plants in Oregon
#54 of 63
EIA plant code
50360

Generating units

Individual generating units at Michell Butte Power Project
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
GEN1Conventional Hydroelectric1.0 MW1.0 MW1989Operating
GEN2Conventional Hydroelectric1.0 MW1.0 MW1989Operating

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 Oregon

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 2.0 MW solar plant and a 2.0 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 Oregon power plants · What Oregon actually generates