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Baalback

Oil power plant in Baalbek-Hermel, Lebanon. Approximate location 34.0209, 36.1919.

OilBaalbek-HermelLebanon

Baalback is a 35 MW oil power plant in Baalbek-Hermel, Lebanon. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 26,280 homes (estimated). It ranks #6 of 7 Lebanon power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1996, it is around 30 years old — long-established. In context, oil supplies about 56.2% of Lebanon's electricity; the national grid averages 390 gCO₂/kWh (43.8% low-carbon) (2024).

35MW installed capacity
26,280homes powered (est.)
1996commissioned (~30 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1023666.

~68,985 t CO₂/yr (estimated) — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

16,080passenger cars driven for a year
8,996homes' yearly energy use
1,149,750tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

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.

Capacity vs largest oil plants in Lebanon

Zouk 1: 643 MW643Zouk 1Jieh 1: 348 MW348Jieh 1Hreishi: 70 MW70HreishiBaalback: 35 MW35BaalbackSour: 35 MW35Sour

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

Local climate & thermal context

This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 34.0°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

10.9°Cannual mean temp
2,693heating degree-days (base 18°C)
118cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
1,788 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 1 °CJF: 2 °CFM: 4 °CMA: 9 °CAM: 14 °CMJ: 17 °CJJ: 20 °CJA: 20 °CAS: 17 °CSO: 14 °CON: 8 °CND: 4 °CD20 °C

Heating degree-days here run 10% 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: 54/100 — this site sits in the mid 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.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #4 largest oil power plant of 5 in Lebanon by capacity.

Lebanon has 5 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 1,130 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 34.0209, 36.1919 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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