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174.6 MW Hydro operating in Rhea, TN
174.6 MW
Nameplate Capacity
5
Generators
units
Conventional Hydroelectric
Technology
1942
Operating Since
Coordinates
35.6197, -84.7855
County
Rhea, TN
Nearby Plants
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| Field | EIA | GEM | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | Tennessee Valley Authority | Tennessee Valley Authority | — |
| Owner(s) | Tennessee Valley Authority | Tennessee Valley Authority | — |
| Status | Operating | operating | — |
Watts Bar Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Meigs and Rhea counties in Tennessee, United States. The dam is one of nine dams on the main Tennessee River channel operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s to provide flood control and electricity and to help create a continuous navigable channel along the entire length of the river. The dam is the technical boundary between the 39,090-acre (15,820 ha) Watts Bar Lake— which it impounds— and 36,240-acre (14,670 ha) Chickamauga Lake, which stretches from the dam's tailwaters southward to Chattanooga.
Read more on WikipediaWatts Bar Hydro is a hydroelectric power plant located in Rhea County, Tennessee. The plant is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Commissioned in 1942, it utilizes conventional hydroelectric technology and has a total capacity of 174.6 MW distributed across five generators. The plant's primary fuel source is water (WAT).
In the most recent year of available data, Watts Bar Hydro generated 895,606 MWh of electricity, achieving a capacity factor of 58.1%. The plant operates within the Tennessee Valley Authority balancing authority area and the SERC NERC region. Watts Bar Hydro ranks as the 3rd largest hydroelectric plant out of 13 in Tennessee, and 109th out of 194 nationally.
Generated from EIA, GEM, and public data sources
Grid Region
Southeast
Market
SEEM Participant
NERC Region
SERC — SERC Reliability Corporation
Balancing Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Grid Voltage
161.0 kV
Regulatory Status
RE — Regulated
Entity Type
Federal
Sector
Electric Utility
Monthly net generation as reported to EIA-923 — useful for historical context. Confidence varies sharply by fuel type; the band above and the “About this data” button explain the caveats specific to this plant and how InfraSure’s in-house model handles them.
79.4K MWh
Latest Month
895.6K MWh
Annual Generation
58.1%
Capacity Factor
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2013
$2,294/kW
Est. Construction Cost
Total estimated cost: $400.6M
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This plant's balancing authority participates in the Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM). SEEM is a bilateral exchange — no public nodal pricing.
No wholesale contracts disclosed in FERC EQR for this plant.
FERC EQR captures bilateral wholesale energy + capacity contracts ≥$1M/yr filed quarterly by jurisdictional sellers — covers renewable PPAs, thermal energy sales agreements, capacity contracts, and tolling agreements alike. Many plants don't appear: regulated-utility output flows to ratepayers via cost-of-service rather than bilateral contracts; small projects fall below the filing threshold; tax-equity-financed renewables route offtake to investors not utilities; merchant plants sell into ISO clearing markets without bilateral contracts. News-extracted buyer facts (below) may surface contracts disclosed only through announcements.
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