- Clean firm
- Operating
- 10 · 100 · 1,000 MW
Map
- Clean firm
- Operating
Rainbow (MT): location. Basemap: Protomaps, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Rainbow (MT)
Power plant · Hydro
Key facts
Power plant · Hydroran 58% of 2025 Operating- Capacity
- Capacity: sourceEIA-860M · Open licenseMW
- Commissioned
- 2013
- Net generation, 2025
- 298,642 MWh
- Grid
- 100 kV to NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) (NWMT)
- Location
- Cascade County, Montana
- Operated by
- NorthWestern Energy (MT Hydro)SourceEIA-860M Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory
Operations
- Net generation, 2025
- 298,642
MWh - Fuel burned, 2025
- 1,018,967
MMBtu - Capacity factor, 2025
- 57.8
% - Heat rate, 2025
- Not stated
| Year | Net generation (MWh) | Fuel burned (MMBtu) | Capacity factor | Heat rate (Btu/kWh) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 298,642 | 1,018,967 | 57.8% | — |
| 2024 | 328,967 | 1,122,435 | 63.5% | — |
| 2023 | 394,875 | 1,347,314 | 76.4% | — |
| 2022 | 294,013 | 1,003,172 | 56.9% | — |
| 2021 | 308,369 | 2,727,218 | 59.7% | — |
| 2020 | 402,133 | 3,525,500 | 77.6% | — |
| 2019 | 453,370 | 4,037,261 | 87.7% | — |
| 2018 | 398,801 | 3,630,684 | 77.2% | — |
| 2017 | 376,048 | 3,464,528 | 72.8% | — |
| 2016 | 343,233 | 3,168,727 | 66.2% | — |
| 2015 | 347,742 | 3,240,608 | 67.3% | — |
| 2014 | 367,241 | 3,492,464 | 71.1% | — |
| 2013 | 289,203 | 2,759,288 | 56.0% | — |
| 2012 | 241,199 | 2,295,249 | 46.5% | — |
| 2011 | 230,631 | 2,240,810 | 44.6% | — |
| 2010 | 252,528 | 2,463,662 | 48.9% | — |
| 2009 | 268,072 | 2,616,383 | 51.9% | — |
| 2008 | 239,938 | 2,364,351 | 46.3% | — |
| 2007 | 228,869 | 2,262,140 | 44.3% | — |
| 2006 | 238,164 | 2,362,348 | 46.1% | — |
| 2005 | 232,736 | 2,327,127 | 45.0% | — |
| 2004 | 211,981 | 2,124,474 | 40.9% | — |
| 2003 | 215,588 | 2,207,837 | 41.7% | — |
| 2002 | 205,499 | 2,090,541 | 39.8% | — |
| 2001 | 195,445 | 2,019,533 | 37.8% | — |
How these are worked out
Net generation and fuel burned are the monthly figures EIA publishes in its bulk electricity file, from the plant's Form 923 reports; a year is the sum of its months. Capacity factor is a full year's net generation over today's nameplate capacity times the hours in that year (8,784 in a leap year), so a plant uprated or partly retired since reads against its current size; heat rate is fuel burned over net generation, for plants that burn fuel. A year with fewer than twelve months stated has no capacity factor, and a value outside the plausible range is left blank rather than shown. By month, the charts apply the same rules to each month's own hours and fuel.
Sources
3 sourcesSources
- EIA-860M
- GEMGlobal Integrated Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, September 2026 release (https://globalenergymonitor.org/projects/global-integrated-power-tracker), CC BY 4.0. Modified by Inframation: TransitionZero-sourced rows removed; statuses and technologies mapped to Inframation's vocabulary; figures aggregated. Copyright © Global Energy Monitor. Global Integrated Power Tracker, September 2026 release. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
- EIASource: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electricity bulk data (Form EIA-923 monthly plant series)