Geothermal power plant in Baja California, Mexico. Approximate location 32.3916, -115.2252.
GeothermalBaja CaliforniaMexico
Cerro Prieto is a 570 MW geothermal power station in Baja California, Mexico. It is operated by CFE. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 1.1 million homes (estimated). It ranks #54 of 366 Mexico power plants by installed capacity. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, the national grid averages 474 gCO₂/kWh (25.9% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id MEX0001868.
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 L100000807073); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 570 MW, Cerro Prieto is well above the median geothermal plant in Mexico (69 MW). Geothermal plants tap underground heat to raise steam for a turbine; they provide steady, low-carbon baseload but are limited to geologically active regions.
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 CFE. All plants by this company →
This geothermal plant taps underground heat to raise steam that drives a turbine. It sits in a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 32.4°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 79% 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: 21/100 — this site sits in the bottom 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 benign, low-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C1 — Very low), with dust abrasion 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 #1 largest geothermal power plant of 5 in Mexico by capacity.
Mexico has 5 geothermal power plants in this dataset, together about 904 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 32.3916, -115.2252 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Cerro Prieto is a 570 MW source-record geothermal power plant in Baja California, Mexico.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 1,069,971 homes (estimated).
Cerro Prieto is operated by CFE.
