West Charleston
Hydro power plant · Orleans County, Vermont
Nameplate capacity
1.4 MW
Rank in Vermont
#107
of 117 plants
In service since
1931
July 1931
Details
- Primary fuel
- Hydro
- Technology
- Conventional Hydroelectric
- Operator
- Barton Village, Inc
- County
- Orleans County
- Generating units
- 2
- Share of state capacity
- 0.16%
- Rank among hydro plants in Vermont
- #40 of 45
- EIA plant code
- 3753
Generating units
| Unit | Technology | Nameplate | Summer | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conventional Hydroelectric | 0.7 MW | 0.7 MW | 1931 | Operating |
| 2 | Conventional Hydroelectric | 0.7 MW | 0.6 MW | 1948 | 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 Vermont
| Smith (VT) | Hydro | 1.5 MW |
| Middlebury College | Other | 1.4 MW |
| 158th Fighter Wing Solar Farm | Solar | 1.3 MW |
| Salisbury | Hydro | 1.3 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 1.4 MW solar plant and a 1.4 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 Vermont power plants · What Vermont actually generates