Cologne-Merkenich power station is a 75 MW coal power plant in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is operated by Stadtwerke Köln GmbH (100% City of Cologne). Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 94,232 homes (estimated). It ranks #240 of 1,369 Germany power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2010, it is around 16 years old — relatively modern. In context, coal supplies about 20.6% of Germany's electricity; the national grid averages 330 gCO₂/kWh (59.1% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1005800.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Estimated, not measured: from installed capacity at a typical 50% load factor × a typical coal emission factor (~1000 g CO₂/kWh, IPCC AR5 / US EIA). Actual emissions depend on plant efficiency and running hours.Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Stadtwerke Köln GmbH (100% City of Cologne).
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 51.0°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 14% 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: 57/100 — 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.
The #68 largest coal power plant of 98 in Germany by capacity.
Germany has 98 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 49,623 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 51.0178, 6.9643 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
