Hydro power plant in Ticino, Switzerland. Approximate location 46.5285, 8.6088.
HydroTicinoSwitzerlandconventional storage
Airolo is a 60 MW hydro power plant in Ticino, Switzerland. It is operated by Azienda Elettrica Ticinese (AET). Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 60k homes (estimated). It ranks #48 of 174 Switzerland power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1947, it is around 79 years old — an older, legacy facility. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, hydro supplies about 52.3% of Switzerland's electricity; the national grid averages 39 gCO₂/kWh (97.7% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1004031.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: GEM tracker 2026 (location L100001023263); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 60 MW, Airolo is well above the median hydro plant in Switzerland (18 MW). Technically it is described as conventional storage. Hydropower converts the energy of falling or flowing water into electricity; output depends on rainfall and reservoir level, and large dams also provide grid balancing and storage.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Azienda Elettrica Ticinese (AET).
This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a polar tundra climate (Köppen ET) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 46.5°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 122% above the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.
Climate heat-demand index: 96/100 — this site sits in the top third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a benign, low-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C1 — Very low), with thermal cycling the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #41 largest hydro power plant of 162 in Switzerland by capacity.
Switzerland has 162 hydro power plants in this dataset, together about 9,694 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 46.5285, 8.6088 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Airolo is a 60 MW source-record hydro power plant in Ticino, Switzerland, commissioned in 1947.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 60,068 homes (estimated).
Airolo is operated by Azienda Elettrica Ticinese (AET).
