Washington net generation by energy source, 2001-2025

What this dataset measures

Tests two common claims: that hydropower supplies most of Washington's electricity, and that Grand Coulee is the largest U.S. power plant. Both depend on the measure used (in-state generation versus delivered power; capacity versus annual output), so the release keeps each measure separate.

Geography

Washington State, United States

Unit of observation

Mostly one state-year; plant tables are one EIA plant in 2025.

Update cadence

Immutable research release; EIA annual data for 2026 would be published as a new version.

Curator

FactHub Research Team

Curated data tables

Washington net generation by energy source, 2001-2025

Annual in-state net generation by energy source as published by EIA, with each source's share of the state total.

Unit of observation: One year and one EIA energy-source category for Washington, all producer types (Total Electric Power Industry).

wa-generation-by-source.csv text/csv · 11.4 KB (11,623 bytes)

The first 100 of 290 rows 5 columns Download the full file

The first 100 of 290 rows

year calendar year	source	eia_energy_source	net_generation_mwh megawatthours (MWh)	share_of_total_pct percent
2001	hydro	Hydroelectric Conventional	54733895	65.91
2001	natural_gas	Natural Gas	9374245	11.29
2001	nuclear	Nuclear	8250429	9.93
2001	coal	Coal	9082358	10.94
2001	wood	Wood and Wood Derived Fuels	1065095	1.28
2001	other_biomass	Other Biomass	156236	0.19
2001	petroleum	Petroleum	320359	0.39
2001	other	Other	66052	0.08
2002	hydro	Hydroelectric Conventional	78166664	76.06
2002	natural_gas	Natural Gas	4719311	4.59
2002	nuclear	Nuclear	9048475	8.81
2002	wind	Wind	416581	0.41
2002	coal	Coal	8660805	8.43
2002	wood	Wood and Wood Derived Fuels	1126145	1.1
2002	other_biomass	Other Biomass	181440	0.18
2002	other_gases	Other Gases	312638	0.3
2002	petroleum	Petroleum	73302	0.07
2002	pumped_storage	Pumped Storage	-4532	0
2002	other	Other	64219	0.06
2003	hydro	Hydroelectric Conventional	71756783	71.69
2003	natural_gas	Natural Gas	7082605	7.08
2003	nuclear	Nuclear	7614708	7.61
2003	wind	Wind	603674	0.6
2003	coal	Coal	11089796	11.08
2003	wood	Wood and Wood Derived Fuels	1342733	1.34
2003	other_biomass	Other Biomass	181898	0.18
2003	other_gases	Other Gases	303188	0.3
2003	petroleum	Petroleum	66591	0.07
2003	pumped_storage	Pumped Storage	-3293	0
2003	other	Other	56007	0.06
2004	hydro	Hydroelectric Conventional	71575700	70.06
2004	natural_gas	Natural Gas	8468800	8.29
2004	nuclear	Nuclear	8981583	8.79
2004	wind	Wind	736576	0.72
2004	coal	Coal	10409331	10.19
2004	wood	Wood and Wood Derived Fuels	1389403	1.36
2004	other_biomass	Other Biomass	185445	0.18
2004	other_gases	Other Gases	275284	0.27
2004	petroleum	Petroleum	85884	0.08
2004	pumped_storage	Pumped Storage	-9818	-0.01
2004	other	Other	66864	0.07
2005	hydro	Hydroelectric Conventional	72074649	70.69
2005	natural_gas	Natural Gas	8578546	8.41
2005	nuclear	Nuclear	8242273	8.08
2005	wind	Wind	498470	0.49
2005	coal	Coal	10494407	10.29
2005	wood	Wood and Wood Derived Fuels	1424802	1.4
2005	other_biomass	Other Biomass	190390	0.19
2005	other_gases	Other Gases	321724	0.32
2005	petroleum	Petroleum	67295	0.07
2005	pumped_storage	Pumped Storage	8473	0.01
2005	other	Other	64822	0.06
2006	hydro	Hydroelectric Conventional	82007629	75.79
2006	natural_gas	Natural Gas	7495410	6.93
2006	nuclear	Nuclear	9328277	8.62
2006	wind	Wind	1037651	0.96
2006	coal	Coal	6372823	5.89
2006	wood	Wood and Wood Derived Fuels	1281189	1.18
2006	other_biomass	Other Biomass	184014	0.17
2006	other_gases	Other Gases	348649	0.32
2006	petroleum	Petroleum	38230	0.04
2006	pumped_storage	Pumped Storage	47099	0.04
2006	other	Other	62185	0.06
2007	hydro	Hydroelectric Conventional	78829195	73.68
2007	natural_gas	Natural Gas	7287394	6.81
2007	nuclear	Nuclear	8108560	7.58
2007	wind	Wind	2437823	2.28
2007	coal	Coal	8556816	8
2007	wood	Wood and Wood Derived Fuels	1116380	1.04
2007	other_biomass	Other Biomass	176351	0.16
2007	other_gases	Other Gases	333773	0.31
2007	petroleum	Petroleum	37042	0.03
2007	pumped_storage	Pumped Storage	44512	0.04
2007	other	Other	62370	0.06
2008	hydro	Hydroelectric Conventional	77636758	70.05
2008	natural_gas	Natural Gas	9809354	8.85
2008	nuclear	Nuclear	9269639	8.36
2008	wind	Wind	3657484	3.3
2008	coal	Coal	8761644	7.91
2008	solar	Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic	0	0
2008	wood	Wood and Wood Derived Fuels	1113073	1
2008	other_biomass	Other Biomass	167881	0.15
2008	other_gases	Other Gases	272339	0.25
2008	petroleum	Petroleum	35189	0.03
2008	pumped_storage	Pumped Storage	48713	0.04
2008	other	Other	56377	0.05
2009	hydro	Hydroelectric Conventional	72932704	69.81
2009	natural_gas	Natural Gas	11971141	11.46
2009	nuclear	Nuclear	6634014	6.35
2009	wind	Wind	3572486	3.42
2009	coal	Coal	7477773	7.16
2009	solar	Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic	0	0
2009	wood	Wood and Wood Derived Fuels	1305162	1.25
2009	other_biomass	Other Biomass	167023	0.16
2009	other_gases	Other Gases	244888	0.23
2009	petroleum	Petroleum	53604	0.05
2009	pumped_storage	Pumped Storage	52383	0.05
2009	other	Other	58956	0.06
2010	hydro	Hydroelectric Conventional	68288383	66
2010	natural_gas	Natural Gas	10359235	10.01

5 field definitions

Field	Type	Meaning	Units	Value type
year	integer	Data year.	calendar year	observed
source	string	Short code for the EIA energy source (hydro, natural_gas, nuclear, wind, coal, solar, wood, other_biomass, other_gases, petroleum, pumped_storage, other).	—	derived
eia_energy_source	string	EIA ENERGY SOURCE label exactly as published.	—	observed
net_generation_mwh	integer	Net generation. Pumped storage can be negative because pumping consumes more than it generates. A source absent from EIA's file for a year has no row (not zero).	megawatthours (MWh)	observed
share_of_total_pct	number	net_generation_mwh divided by EIA's Washington Total for the year.	percent	derived

Supporting files

Source snapshots, manifests, quality reports, documentation, and other materials used to produce or review this release.

• dataset-parts.json Documentation · application/json · 71.3 KB (73,000 bytes)

  Sources, tables, events, saved analyses and replications of this dataset version, as JSON.

• source-manifest.json Source manifest · application/json · 2 KB (2,088 bytes)

  URL, byte length and SHA-256 of every downloaded source file.

• README.md Documentation · text/markdown · 2.1 KB (2,149 bytes)

  Contents, definitions and reproduction steps.

• quality-report.md Quality report · text/markdown · 1.3 KB (1,311 bytes)

  Cross-checks and data-quality notes.

• build.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 15.1 KB (15,416 bytes)

  Reads the EIA and Commerce source files and writes every table (Node.js 20 + SheetJS).

• build_payload.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 40.7 KB (41,716 bytes)

  Writes the release files and this dataset's FactHub content.

Sources

1. U.S. Energy Information Administration, State Historical Tables: Net Generation by State by Type of Producer by Energy Source, 1990-2025 (Final, released September 2026) Primary source for annual Washington net generation by energy source and for the state hydro ranking (EIA-923 and predecessor forms).

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. U.S. federal government work (public domain). Linked as a public record; the source file is not redistributed. Its SHA-256 is recorded here and in source-manifest.json.

   Archived copy captured October 9, 2026

2. U.S. Energy Information Administration, State Electricity Profile tables for Washington (data year 2024) Table 10 (supply and disposition: retail sales, international trade, net interstate trade) and cross-check of Table 5 generation totals.

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. U.S. federal government work (public domain). Linked as a public record; the source file is not redistributed. Its SHA-256 is recorded here and in source-manifest.json.

   Archived copy captured October 9, 2026

3. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860 Annual Electric Generator Report, 2025 final data (eia8602025.zip, file 3_1_Generator_Y2025.xlsx, sheet Operable) Generator-level nameplate, summer and winter capacity used to rank U.S. plants by capacity.

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. U.S. federal government work (public domain). Linked as a public record; the source file is not redistributed. Its SHA-256 is recorded here and in source-manifest.json.

   Archived copy captured October 9, 2026

4. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-923 Power Plant Operations Report, 2025 final data (f923_2025.zip, Schedules 2-5, Page 1 Generation and Fuel Data) Plant-level 2025 net generation used to rank U.S. plants by annual output.

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. U.S. federal government work (public domain). Linked as a public record; the source file is not redistributed. Its SHA-256 is recorded here and in source-manifest.json.

   Archived copy captured October 9, 2026

5. Washington State Department of Commerce, Fuel Mix Disclosure Consumption-side check: the aggregate 2024 fuel mix of electricity Washington utilities reported delivering to Washington customers.

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. Washington State public record. Linked as a public record; the source file is not redistributed. Its SHA-256 is recorded here and in source-manifest.json.

   Archived copy captured October 9, 2026

6. Washington State Department of Commerce, chart "Washington electric utilities aggregate 2024 fuel mix" (image on the Fuel Mix Disclosure page) The labeled percentages transcribed into the wa-utility-fuel-mix-2024 table.

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. Washington State public record. Linked as a public record; the source file is not redistributed. Its SHA-256 is recorded here and in source-manifest.json.

7. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Grand Coulee Dam: About Operator statement of Grand Coulee generating capacity (6,809 MW) and typical output (up to 21 billion kWh), used as a replication check.

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. U.S. federal government work (public domain). Linked as a public record; the source file is not redistributed. Its SHA-256 is recorded here and in source-manifest.json.

   Archived copy captured October 9, 2026

8. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Today in Energy, "Drought conditions reduce hydropower generation, particularly in the Pacific Northwest" (November 7, 2024) Context on 2023-2024 Pacific Northwest hydro conditions; states Grand Coulee net summer capacity as 6.7 GW.

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. U.S. federal government work (public domain). Linked as a public record; the source file is not redistributed. Its SHA-256 is recorded here and in source-manifest.json.

   Archived copy captured October 9, 2026

9. Washington State Department of Ecology, news release, April 16, 2024 drought declaration Dates the 2024 statewide drought emergency and the 2023 emergency covering 12 watersheds.

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. Washington State public record. Linked as a public record; the source file is not redistributed. Its SHA-256 is recorded here and in source-manifest.json.

   Archived copy captured October 9, 2026

Limitations and reproducibility

Fully reproducible from public downloads with Node.js 20 and SheetJS.: source-manifest.json lists every downloaded file with URL and SHA-256; build.js regenerates every table from those files and build_payload.js regenerates the release. The Commerce fuel-mix percentages are transcribed from a chart and are typed into build.js.

• Net generation measures electricity produced by plants located in Washington, not the electricity Washington customers use; Washington trades large volumes with other states and Canada.
• Conventional hydro excludes pumped storage, which EIA reports separately and which is near zero or negative in Washington.
• Washington's hydro output depends on Columbia River Basin water supply, so any single year can differ from the long-run pattern; 2023 and 2024 were drought years.
• Plant rankings use EIA plant codes and 2025 data only; capacity rankings use year-end operable generators.
• The consumption-side fuel mix covers 2024 only and includes 15.44% unspecified power.