Oil power plant in England, United Kingdom. Approximate location 51.4563, -0.9711.
OilEnglandUnited KingdomOCGT
Burghfield is a 50 MW oil power plant in England, United Kingdom. It is operated by Scottish and Southern: Thermal. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 38k homes (estimated). It ranks #251 of 2,860 United Kingdom power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1998, it is around 28 years old — long-established. In context, oil supplies about 4.4% of United Kingdom's electricity; the national grid averages 217 gCO₂/kWh (64.4% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GBR1000441.
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 L100000400729); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 50 MW, Burghfield is well above the median oil plant in United Kingdom (45 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.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Scottish and Southern: Thermal.
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 51.5°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 15% 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: 58/100 — this site sits in the mid 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 moderately corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C3 — Medium), with humidity / wetness 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 #6 largest oil power plant of 14 in United Kingdom by capacity.
United Kingdom has 14 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 2,134 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 51.4563, -0.9711 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Burghfield is a 50 MW source-record oil power plant in England, United Kingdom, commissioned in 1998.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 37,542 homes (estimated).
Burghfield is operated by Scottish and Southern: Thermal.
