Home / Europe / Germany / GKM (Mannheim) power station

GKM (Mannheim) power station

Coal power plant in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. Approximate location 49.4452, 8.4891.

CoalRheinland-PfalzGermanyCO₂ reported

GKM (Mannheim) power station is a 1,958 MW coal power station in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. It is operated by Grosskraftwerk Mannheim. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 2,450,297 homes (estimated). It ranks #8 of 1,369 Germany power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1980, it is around 46 years old — long-established. Its measured emissions of 3,192,820 t CO₂/yr (Climate TRACE) are equivalent to about 744,247 cars driven for a year. In context, coal supplies about 20.6% of Germany's electricity; the national grid averages 330 gCO₂/kWh (59.1% low-carbon) (2025).

1,958MW installed capacity
2,450,297homes powered (est.)
3,192,820t CO₂ / yr (Climate TRACE)
1980commissioned (~46 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1005699.

3,192,820 t CO₂/yr — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

744,247passenger cars driven for a year
416,382homes' yearly energy use
53,213,667tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; emissions reported to Climate TRACE.

Capacity vs largest coal plants in Germany

Niederaussem power station: 3,430 MW3kNiederauss…Janschwalde power station: 2,790 MW3kJanschwald…Boxberg power station: 2,585 MW3kBoxberg po…BoA 2: 2,100 MW2kBoA 2Neurath power station: 2,068 MW2kNeurath po…GKM (Mannheim) power station: 1,958 MW2kGKM (Mannh…Weisweiler power station: 1,800 MW2kWeisweiler…Hamburg-Moorburg: 1,600 MW2kHamburg-Mo…

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by Grosskraftwerk Mannheim.

Local climate & thermal context

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 49.4°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

10.7°Cannual mean temp
2,743heating degree-days (base 18°C)
114cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
103 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 2 °CJF: 3 °CFM: 7 °CMA: 10 °CAM: 15 °CMJ: 18 °CJJ: 20 °CJA: 20 °CAS: 16 °CSO: 10 °CON: 6 °CND: 3 °CD20 °C

Heating degree-days here run 12% 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: 56/100 — 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.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #6 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.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 49.4452, 8.4891 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Built from open public data; no personal information. Operate this site? Request a correction or removal.