Potomac River Guide Home

Interactive Maps

The Lower Potomac

The Potomac Estuary

Mount Vernon to Anacostia River

Mall Area

Georgetown to Great Falls

Potomac Piedmont

Upper Potomac

The North Branch

Boat Ramps

Monitoring Sites

Bridges and Ferries

Cruises and Charters

Search Potomac Sites

Also Explore

The Hudson River GuideThe Delaware River Guide

Dickerson Power Plant

Maryland Utility

Photo of Dickerson Power Plant

One of three electric generating stations on the Potomac River in the Washington, D.C. region (the others are at Morgantown, Md. and Alexandria, Va.), the Dickerson plant is the latest to shut down its coal generating facilities. Dedicated on September 24, 1959, the plant used coal, oil, and gas to generate electricity for Washington, D.C., and most of Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland--the service area of Potomac Electric Power Company. PEPCO built the plant and owned it until December 2000, when the company sold its generating plants to Mirant Corp., an international energy conglomerate; Mirant was acquired in late 2010 by GenOn Energy, based in Houston, Texas, which changed its name to NRG Corporation. Capacity of the plant is 853 megawatts. A 900-foot long canal, 30 feet wide, is fed by water released from the plant. In 1991, concrete boulders were added to create a canoeing and kayaking site However, after the plant shur down in July 2020, the whitewater training course moved to Brookmont, Maryland.

Suggested Links

Click here for larger map and nearby sites.

Contact Information
NRG Corporation
1000 Main Street
Houston TX 77002
202-585-3801
Website