Oil power plant in Western Cape, South Africa. Approximate location -34.1653, 21.9608.
OilWestern CapeSouth AfricaCO₂ reported
Gourikwa is a 740 MW oil power station in Western Cape, South Africa. It is operated by Eskom. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 555,634 homes (estimated). It ranks #20 of 122 South Africa power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2007, it is around 19 years old — relatively modern. Its measured emissions of 327,790 t CO₂/yr (Climate TRACE) are equivalent to about 76,408 cars driven for a year. In context, oil supplies about 0.8% of South Africa's electricity; the national grid averages 699 gCO₂/kWh (17.8% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1000122.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; emissions reported to Climate TRACE.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Eskom. All plants by this company →
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a cold semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSk) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 34.2°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 80% below 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: 20/100 — this site sits in the bottom 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 #2 largest oil power plant of 3 in South Africa by capacity.
South Africa has 3 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 2,402 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -34.1653, 21.9608 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
