Jocassee

Hydro power plant · Pickens County, South Carolina

Nameplate capacity
774 MW
Rank in South Carolina
#12
of 214 plants
In service since
1973
December 1973

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Hydroelectric Pumped Storage
Operator
Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC
County
Pickens County
Generating units
4
Share of state capacity
2.84%
Rank among hydro plants in South Carolina
#2 of 32
EIA plant code
3262

Generating units

Individual generating units at Jocassee
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
1Hydroelectric Pumped Storage194 MW195 MW1973Operating
2Hydroelectric Pumped Storage194 MW195 MW1973Operating
3Hydroelectric Pumped Storage194 MW195 MW1975Operating
4Hydroelectric Pumped Storage194 MW195 MW1975Operating

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 South Carolina

W S LeeNatural gas955 MW
Mill Creek (SC)Natural gas799 MW
WatereeCoal772 MW
H B RobinsonNuclear769 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 774 MW solar plant and a 774 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 South Carolina power plants · What South Carolina actually generates