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Petenwell

Hydro power plant · Juneau County, Wisconsin

Nameplate capacity
20 MW
Rank in Wisconsin
#85
of 278 plants
In service since
1949
August 1949

Details

Primary fuel
Hydro
Technology
Conventional Hydroelectric
Operator
Wisconsin River Power Company
County
Juneau County
Generating units
4
Share of state capacity
0.10%
Rank among hydro plants in Wisconsin
#8 of 61
EIA plant code
4080

Generating units

Individual generating units at Petenwell
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
1Conventional Hydroelectric5.0 MW5.0 MW1949Operating
2Conventional Hydroelectric5.0 MW5.0 MW1949Operating
3Conventional Hydroelectric5.0 MW5.0 MW1949Operating
4Conventional Hydroelectric5.0 MW5.0 MW1950Operating

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

Rhinelander MillNatural gas21 MW
Cumberland (WI)Natural gas21 MW
Shirley WindWind20 MW
Flambeau Hydroelectric StationHydro19 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 20 MW solar plant and a 20 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