Gonfreville-l'Orcher is a 1 MW biomass power plant in Haute-Normandie, France. Based on reported annual generation of 1,627 GWh, it can supply roughly 465k homes. It ranks #2109 of 2,216 France power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1970, it is around 56 years old — an older, legacy facility. Its annual emissions of 963,080 t CO₂/yr (EU ETS verified (EUTL 2023)) are equivalent to about 224k cars driven for a year. In context, biomass supplies about 1.8% of France's electricity; the national grid averages 41 gCO₂/kWh (94.9% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1025733.
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: WRI Global Power Plant Database source-record (legacy); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 1 MW, Gonfreville-l'Orcher is below the median biomass plant in France (3 MW). Technically it is described as Steam. Biomass plants burn organic material such as wood, residues or waste-derived fuel to raise steam; they are dispatchable and counted as low-carbon where the feedstock is sustainably sourced.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; emissions per EU ETS verified (EUTL 2023) (measured for US EPA/EU ETS, modelled for Climate TRACE).
Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
This biomass plant burns organic material (wood, residues) to raise steam for a turbine. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 49.5°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 1% 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: 50/100 — this site sits in the mid third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
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 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 #138 largest biomass power plant of 158 in France by capacity.
France has 158 biomass power plants in this dataset, together about 1,184 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 49.4853, 0.2219 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Gonfreville-l'Orcher is a 1 MW source-record biomass power plant in Haute-Normandie, France, commissioned in 1970.
Gonfreville-l'Orcher generates about 1,627 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 464,857 homes.
Gonfreville-l'Orcher has measured emissions of about 963,080 tonnes of CO₂ per year (EU ETS verified (EUTL 2023)).
