Al-Shemal is a 2,100 MW oil power station in Ninawa, Iraq. It is operated by Ministry for Industry and Minerals. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 1,576,800 homes (estimated). It ranks #1 of 28 Iraq power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1988, it is around 38 years old — long-established. In context, oil supplies about 45.4% of Iraq's electricity; the national grid averages 683 gCO₂/kWh (1.6% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1008714.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Estimated, not measured: from installed capacity at a typical 30% load factor × a typical oil emission factor (~750 g CO₂/kWh, IPCC AR5 / US EIA). Actual emissions depend on plant efficiency and running hours.Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Ministry for Industry and Minerals.
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a hot semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSh) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 36.1°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 60% below 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: 26/100 — this site sits in the bottom third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
In colder climates, uninsulated hot equipment (boilers, turbines, valves, steam lines) loses proportionally more heat to ambient air — exactly the loss Inzonex modular insulation is designed to cut.
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.
The #1 largest oil power plant of 6 in Iraq by capacity.
Iraq has 6 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 6,040 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 36.0547, 43.2961 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
