Wells

Hydro power plant · Chelan County, Washington

Nameplate capacity
867 MW
Rank in Washington
#8
of 139 plants
In service since
1967
September 1967

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Conventional Hydroelectric
Operator
PUD No 1 of Douglas County
County
Chelan County
Generating units
10
Share of state capacity
2.73%
Rank among hydro plants in Washington
#7 of 73
EIA plant code
3886

Generating units

Individual generating units at Wells
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
U-10Conventional Hydroelectric89 MW89 MW1969Operating
U-2Conventional Hydroelectric89 MW89 MW1967Operating
U-3Conventional Hydroelectric89 MW89 MW1967Operating
U-4Conventional Hydroelectric89 MW89 MW1967Operating
U-5Conventional Hydroelectric89 MW89 MW1967Operating
U-6Conventional Hydroelectric89 MW89 MW1967Operating
U-7Conventional Hydroelectric89 MW89 MW1967Operating
U-8Conventional Hydroelectric89 MW89 MW1968Operating
U-1Conventional Hydroelectric77 MW84 MW1967Operating
U-9Conventional Hydroelectric77 MW84 MW1969Out of service and NOT expected to return to service in next calendar year

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 Washington

BoundaryHydro1,160 MW
Priest RapidsHydro950 MW
Little GooseHydro810 MW
Lower GraniteHydro810 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 867 MW solar plant and a 867 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 Washington power plants · What Washington actually generates