Grandfather Falls
Hydro power plant · Lincoln County, Wisconsin
Nameplate capacity
17 MW
Rank in Wisconsin
#91
of 278 plants
In service since
1938
December 1938
Details
- Primary fuel
- Hydro
- Technology
- Conventional Hydroelectric
- Operator
- Wisconsin Public Service Corp
- County
- Lincoln County
- Generating units
- 2
- Share of state capacity
- 0.09%
- Rank among hydro plants in Wisconsin
- #10 of 61
- EIA plant code
- 4063
Generating units
| Unit | Technology | Nameplate | Summer | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conventional Hydroelectric | 11 MW | 11 MW | 1938 | Operating |
| 2 | Conventional Hydroelectric | 6.2 MW | 6.2 MW | 1938 | 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 Wisconsin
| Kaukauna Gas Turbine | Natural gas | 18 MW |
| Dane County Solar LLC | Solar | 17 MW |
| Arcadia Electric | Natural gas | 17 MW |
| Nine Springs | Natural gas | 16 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 17 MW solar plant and a 17 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 Wisconsin power plants · What Wisconsin actually generates