---
title: "Hydroelectric Plant Technician"
description: "Monitor and control activities associated with hydropower generation. Operate plant equipment, such as turbines, pumps, valves, gates, fans, electric…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/hydroelectric-plant-technician"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Hydroelectric Plant Technician

**Category:** Production · **SOC code:** 51-8013 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 51-8013.04

Monitor and control activities associated with hydropower generation. Operate plant equipment, such as turbines, pumps, valves, gates, fans, electric control boards, and battery banks. Monitor equipment operation and performance and make necessary adjustments to ensure optimal performance. Perform equipment maintenance and repair as necessary.

Also advertised as: Hydro Plant Technician (Hydro Plant Tech); Hydro Technician (Hydro Tech); Hydroelectric Mechanic; Hydroelectric Operations and Maintenance Technician (Hydro O and M Technician); Hydroelectric Operator; Hydroelectric Plant Mechanic; Operations and Maintenance Technician (O and M Technician); Plant Mechanic.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $102,040 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $49.06/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $61,790 to $131,940, with the middle half between $79,690 and $119,080
- **Total US employment:** 29,320
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -5.1% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 2,300 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 54/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 29,320 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $61,790 |
| 25th | $79,690 |
| 50th (median) | $102,040 |
| 75th | $119,080 |
| 90th | $131,940 |
| Mean (average) | $99,790 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WA | $131,620 | $122,994 | 430 |
| NV | $131,400 | $131,428 | 250 |
| NJ | $131,370 | $120,739 | 300 |
| ID | $124,440 | $130,312 | 310 |
| ND | $122,160 | $137,322 | 150 |
| HI | $121,700 | $110,686 | 290 |
| TN | $115,920 | $126,178 | 490 |
| MD | $111,260 | $106,003 | 330 |
| OR | $109,830 | $106,259 | 250 |
| NC | $108,300 | $114,815 | 420 |
| GA | $107,580 | $111,722 | 590 |
| UT | $107,120 | $108,351 | 420 |
| AL | $107,080 | $120,554 | 790 |
| IN | $107,000 | $114,648 | 1,190 |
| NY | $106,990 | $99,137 | 1,960 |

36 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 51 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/hydroelectric-plant-technician/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/hydroelectric-plant-technician.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 29,800 in the 2025–2035 base year to 28,300 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 1,500 jobs, or -5.1%. Declining: -5.1% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 2,300 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Long-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 34.0% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 34.0% |
| Some College Courses | 22.4% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 6.9% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 2.8% |

## What the work involves

- Inspect water-powered electric generators or auxiliary equipment in hydroelectric plants to verify proper operation or to determine maintenance or repair needs.
- Maintain logs, reports, work requests, or other records of work performed in hydroelectric plants.
- Monitor hydroelectric power plant equipment operation and performance, adjusting to performance specifications, as necessary.
- Identify or address malfunctions of hydroelectric plant operational equipment, such as generators, transformers, or turbines.
- Operate hydroelectric plant equipment, such as turbines, pumps, valves, gates, fans, electric control boards, or battery banks.
- Take readings and record data, such as water levels, temperatures, or flow rates.
- Perform preventive or corrective containment or cleanup measures in hydroelectric plants to prevent environmental contamination.
- Start, adjust, or stop generating units, operating valves, gates, or auxiliary equipment in hydroelectric power generating plants.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Critical Thinking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Mechanical — importance 4.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Information Ordering — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C), Investigative (I).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 7.00 |
| C — Conventional | 4.68 |
| I — Investigative | 3.28 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.77 |
| S — Social | 1.21 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 88.5 |
| ISTP | 83.4 |
| ESTJ | 70.8 |
| ISFJ | 69.7 |
| INTJ | 66.1 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Hydroelectric Production Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hydroelectric-production-manager) — median $126,060
- [Power Plant Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/power-plant-operator) — median $102,040
- [Geothermal Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geothermal-technician) — median $49,230
- [Wind Turbine Service Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/wind-turbine-service-technician) — median $64,120
- [Biomass Plant Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/biomass-plant-technician) — median $102,040
- [Stationary Engineer and Boiler Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/stationary-engineer-and-boiler-operator) — median $78,620
- [Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/water-and-wastewater-treatment-plant-and-system-operator) — median $60,020
- [Gas Plant Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/gas-plant-operator) — median $87,820
- [Maintenance and Repair Worker, General](https://nuecareer.com/careers/maintenance-and-repair-worker-general) — median $49,590
- [Power Distributor and Dispatcher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/power-distributor-and-dispatcher) — median $106,730

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/hydroelectric-plant-technician