Clay Boswell

Coal power plant in Minnesota, United States of America. Approximate location 47.2611, -93.6528.

CoalMinnesotaUnited States of AmericaCO₂ reported

Clay Boswell is a 923 MW coal power station in Minnesota, United States of America. It is operated by ALLETE Inc.. Based on reported annual generation of 4,811 GWh, it can supply roughly 1,374,571 homes. It ranks #350 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1977, it is around 49 years old — long-established. Its measured emissions of 5,196,646 t CO₂/yr (US EPA GHGRP) are equivalent to about 1,211,339 cars driven for a year. In context, coal supplies about 16.3% of United States of America's electricity; the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).

923MW installed capacity
4,811GWh reported / yr
1,374,571homes powered
5,196,646t CO₂ / yr (US EPA GHGRP)
1977commissioned (~49 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0001893.

5,196,646 t CO₂/yr — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

1,211,339passenger cars driven for a year
677,706homes' yearly energy use
86,610,767tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; emissions reported to US EPA GHGRP.

Reported generation trend

2013: 0 GWh20132014: 0 GWh20142015: 0 GWh20152016: 0 GWh20162017: 0 GWh20172018: 0 GWh20182019: 4,811 GWh20195k GWh

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

Owner

Operated by ALLETE Inc.. All plants by this company →

Local climate & thermal context

This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 47.3°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

4.0°Cannual mean temp
5,165heating degree-days (base 18°C)
72cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
399 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: -15 °CJF: -11 °CFM: -4 °CMA: 4 °CAM: 12 °CMJ: 17 °CJJ: 20 °CJA: 19 °CAS: 13 °CSO: 7 °CON: -2 °CND: -11 °CD20 °C

Heating degree-days here run 110% 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: 95/100 — 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 #113 largest coal power plant of 286 in United States of America by capacity.

United States of America has 286 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 249,149 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 47.2611, -93.6528 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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