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Catawba River Pollution Control

Oil power plant in North Carolina, United States of America. Approximate location 35.7766, -81.6643.

OilNorth CarolinaUnited States of America

Catawba River Pollution Control is a 1 MW oil power plant in North Carolina, United States of America. It is operated by City of Morganton - (NC). Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 976 homes (estimated). It ranks #9006 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2009, it is around 17 years old — relatively modern. In context, oil supplies about 0.7% of United States of America's electricity; the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).

1MW installed capacity
976homes powered (est.)
2009commissioned (~17 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0056553.

~2,562 t CO₂/yr (estimated) — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

597passenger cars driven for a year
334homes' yearly energy use
42,705tree 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.

Reported generation trend

2013: 0 GWh20132014: 0 GWh20142015: 0 GWh20152016: 0 GWh20162017: 0 GWh20172018: 0 GWh20182019: 0 GWh20190 GWh

Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by City of Morganton - (NC). 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 humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 35.8°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

14.0°Cannual mean temp
2,012heating degree-days (base 18°C)
584cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
382 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 3 °CJF: 5 °CFM: 9 °CMA: 14 °CAM: 18 °CMJ: 22 °CJJ: 24 °CJA: 24 °CAS: 20 °CSO: 14 °CON: 9 °CND: 5 °CD24 °C

Heating degree-days here run 18% 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: 43/100 — 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 #820 largest oil power plant of 876 in United States of America by capacity.

United States of America has 876 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 37,143 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 35.7766, -81.6643 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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