Gas power plant in Mérida, Venezuela. Approximate location 8.559824, -71.769118.
GasMéridaVenezuelaCCGT · HRSGMothballed
Don Luis Zambrano power plant is a 470 MW gas power station in Mérida, Venezuela. It is operated by Corporación Eléctrica Nacional (Venezuela) SA [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 529k homes (estimated). It ranks #15 of 59 Venezuela power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2015, it is around 11 years old — relatively modern. In context, gas supplies about 4.5% of Venezuela's electricity; the national grid averages 86 gCO₂/kWh (91.1% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GOGPT_donluiszambrano_venezu.
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 GOGPT; fuel: GEM GOGPT
At 470 MW, Don Luis Zambrano power plant is well above the median gas plant in Venezuela (300 MW). Technically it is described as CCGT; combined-cycle with a heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG). Its current lifecycle status is “Mothballed” — so it is not yet, or no longer, generating at full output. 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 Corporación Eléctrica Nacional (Venezuela) SA [100%].
This gas plant burns natural gas in a turbine — often in a combined-cycle setup — to generate electricity. It sits in a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen Af) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 8.6°N — 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 corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), 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 #8 largest gas power plant of 44 in Venezuela by capacity.
Venezuela has 44 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 16,840 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 8.559824, -71.769118 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Don Luis Zambrano power plant is a 470 MW gas power plant in Mérida, Venezuela, commissioned in 2015.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 529,354 homes (estimated).
Don Luis Zambrano power plant is operated by Corporación Eléctrica Nacional (Venezuela) SA [100%].
