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Brunsbüttel

Oil power plant in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Approximate location 53.8925, 9.2011.

OilSchleswig-HolsteinGermany

Brunsbüttel is a 254 MW oil power station in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is operated by Vattenfall Europe Generation AG. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 190,717 homes (estimated). It ranks #106 of 1,369 Germany power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1973, it is around 53 years old — an older, legacy facility. In context, oil supplies about 3.8% of Germany's electricity; the national grid averages 330 gCO₂/kWh (59.1% low-carbon) (2025).

254MW installed capacity
190,717homes powered (est.)
1973commissioned (~53 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1005622.

~500,634 t CO₂/yr (estimated) — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

116,698passenger cars driven for a year
65,289homes' yearly energy use
8,343,900tree 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 Germany

Wilmersdorf: 828 MW828WilmersdorfIKS PCK Schwedt: 334 MW334IKS PCK Sc…Brunsbüttel: 254 MW254BrunsbüttelKW Mittelsbüren: 198 MW198KW Mittels…Kraftwerk Walheim: 136 MW136Kraftwerk …Spitzenlastkraftwerk Großkayna: 120 MW120Spitzenlas…Maxau Mill power station: 120 MW120Maxau Mill…TOTAL R&C LEUNA: 101 MW101TOTAL R&C …

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

Owner

Operated by Vattenfall Europe Generation AG. All plants by this company →

Local climate & thermal context

This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 53.9°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

8.7°Cannual mean temp
3,373heating degree-days (base 18°C)
0cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
-2 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 1 °CJF: 1 °CFM: 4 °CMA: 7 °CAM: 12 °CMJ: 15 °CJJ: 17 °CJA: 17 °CAS: 13 °CSO: 9 °CON: 5 °CND: 2 °CD17 °C

Heating degree-days here run 37% 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: 73/100 — this site sits in the top 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 #3 largest oil power plant of 26 in Germany by capacity.

Germany has 26 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 3,072 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 53.8925, 9.2011 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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