Coal power plant in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Approximate location -28.730833, 29.826667.
CoalKwaZulu-NatalSouth Africa
Colenso power station is a 1,050 MW coal power station in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is operated by Colenso Power Pty Ltd; Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 1.3 million homes (estimated). It ranks #27 of 152 South Africa power plants by installed capacity. In context, coal supplies about 81.4% of South Africa's electricity; the national grid averages 699 gCO₂/kWh (17.8% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GEM_coa_colenso_south.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and fuel fields on this page are source-record values from the upstream open dataset. They are useful for identification and ranking, but they have not been upgraded to a 2026 registry/GEM-location verified value.
capacity: GEM GCPT; fuel: GEM GCPT
At 1,050 MW, Colenso power station is below the median coal plant in South Africa (1,180 MW). Coal plants burn pulverised coal to raise high-pressure steam for a turbine; they run as baseload but are the most carbon-intensive mainstream source and the first targeted for retirement or efficiency retrofits.
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 Colenso Power Pty Ltd; Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp.
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a humid subtropical (dry winter) climate (Köppen Cwa) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 28.7°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Climate zone & typical temperatures: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
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 mild atmospheric environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C2 — Low), 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 #20 largest coal power plant of 37 in South Africa by capacity.
South Africa has 37 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 67,847 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -28.730833, 29.826667 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Colenso power station is a 1,050 MW coal power plant in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 1,314,000 homes (estimated).
Colenso power station is operated by Colenso Power Pty Ltd; Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp.
