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Al Hiswa

Oil power plant in Aden, Yemen. Approximate location 12.8271, 44.9227.

OilAdenYemenOCGT

Al Hiswa is a 125 MW oil power station in Aden, Yemen. It is operated by Public Electricity Corporation. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 94k homes (estimated). It ranks #7 of 17 Yemen power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1986, it is around 40 years old — long-established. In context, oil supplies about 87.6% of Yemen's electricity; the national grid averages 592 gCO₂/kWh (11.2% low-carbon) (2024).

125Legacy source-record capacity
93,857homes powered (est.)
1986commissioned (~40 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1022444.

Data status

Known data

FacilityAl Hiswa WRI
CountryYemen · Aden WRI
Coordinates12.8271, 44.9227 WRI
FuelOil WRI
MW installed capacity125 MW WRI source record; scope not independently normalised
OwnerPublic Electricity Corporation WRI
Commissioned1986 WRI
TechnologyOCGT WRI

Calculated from dataset

CO₂ emissions246,375 t CO₂/yr calculated
Capacity rank in country#7 of 17 calculated
Fuel-specific rank in country#4 of 12 calculated
Capacity vs country/fuel peers1.67× · 75 MW median · 12 peers calculated
Homes-powered equivalent93,857 calculated
Climate28.5°C · HDD 0 derived from coordinates
Environmental severityC5 · 61/100 derived from coordinates

Not available

GWh reported / yrNot available not in dataset

Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.

Capacity provenance

The public capacity above is the current source-record value. A 2026 tracker candidate lists 60 MW for Al-Hiswa 1 power station, but it is not used as the public primary value until scope is verified (unit vs operating vs installed/project total).

Capacity claim grade: D_REJECT_KEEP_MASTER - recommended action: keep_master - confidence: rejected_candidate. This follows a claim-based data model: value + scope + source + confidence, rather than silently overwriting records.

Data provenance

The capacity and fuel fields on this page are source-record values from the upstream open dataset. They are useful for identification and ranking, but they have not been upgraded to a 2026 registry/GEM-location verified value.

capacity: WRI Global Power Plant Database source-record (legacy); fuel: WRI source-record fuel

In context: how this plant compares

At 125 MW, Al Hiswa is well above the median oil plant in Yemen (75 MW). Technically it is described as OCGT. Oil-fired plants burn heavy fuel oil or diesel, usually as peaking or backup capacity on islands and grids without gas pipelines; high fuel cost keeps their utilisation low.

Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.

Capacity vs largest oil plants in Yemen

Al Mukha: 160 MW160Al MukhaRas Kanatib: 150 MW150Ras KanatibAl Mansoura: 139 MW139Al MansouraAl Hiswa: 125 MW125Al HiswaDhaban: 96 MW96DhabanAl-Harshiyat power station: 75 MW75Al-Harshiy…Qario Power station: 75 MW75Qario Powe…Al Rayyan power station: 70 MW70Al Rayyan …

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by Public Electricity Corporation.

Local climate & thermal context

This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 12.8°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

28.5°Cannual mean temp
0heating degree-days (base 18°C)
3,825cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
75 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 25 °CJF: 25 °CFM: 26 °CMA: 28 °CAM: 30 °CMJ: 32 °CJJ: 32 °CJA: 31 °CAS: 31 °CSO: 29 °CON: 27 °CND: 25 °CD32 °C

This site has effectively no heating season (tropical/equatorial climate), so winter heat loss is not the driver here. The thermal concern shifts to year-round process heat and humidity/heat-driven corrosion of hot equipment.

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.

Site climate & environmental severity

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 an aggressive, high-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C5 — Very high), with marine salt corrosion the leading environmental stress.

C5ISO 9223 corrosivity (indicative)
61/100environmental-severity index
7.5°Cseasonal temperature swing
20 kmdistance to coast

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.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #4 largest oil power plant of 12 in Yemen by capacity.

Yemen has 12 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 1,103 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 12.8271, 44.9227 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions

What type of power plant is Al Hiswa?

Al Hiswa is a 125 MW source-record oil power plant in Aden, Yemen, commissioned in 1986.

How many homes can Al Hiswa power?

Its output is enough to supply roughly 93,857 homes (estimated).

Who operates Al Hiswa?

Al Hiswa is operated by Public Electricity Corporation.

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