Gas power plant in England, United Kingdom. Approximate location 50.7469, -1.2862.
GasEnglandUnited Kingdom
Cowes is a 140 MW gas power station in England, United Kingdom. It is operated by RWE Npower Plc. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 158k homes (estimated). It ranks #150 of 2,860 United Kingdom power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1982, it is around 44 years old — long-established. In context, gas supplies about 31.1% of United Kingdom's electricity; the national grid averages 217 gCO₂/kWh (64.4% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GBR1000376.
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 L100000408858); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 140 MW, Cowes is well above the median gas plant in United Kingdom (115 MW). Gas plants burn natural gas either in open-cycle turbines for fast peaking, or in combined-cycle units that recover exhaust heat in an HRSG to reach roughly 55–62% efficiency — the cleanest-burning fossil option.
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 RWE Npower Plc. All plants by this company →
This gas plant burns natural gas in a turbine — often in a combined-cycle setup — to generate electricity. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 50.7°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.
A gas turbine here also runs ~0% below its ISO (15°C) rating at this annual mean (typical CCGT curve, estimate).
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 corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with marine corrosion 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 #61 largest gas power plant of 130 in United Kingdom by capacity.
United Kingdom has 130 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 52,329 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 50.7469, -1.2862 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Cowes is a 140 MW source-record gas power plant in England, United Kingdom, commissioned in 1982.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 157,680 homes (estimated).
Cowes is operated by RWE Npower Plc.
