Gas power plant in Jeollanam-do, South Korea. Approximate location 34.9073, 127.7449.
GasJeollanam-doSouth KoreaCCGT · HRSG
Gwangyang POSCO is a 500 MW gas power station in Jeollanam-do, South Korea. It is operated by POSCO. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 563k homes (estimated). It ranks #74 of 216 South Korea power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2000, it is around 26 years old — long-established. In context, gas supplies about 27.9% of South Korea's electricity; the national grid averages 417 gCO₂/kWh (40.0% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1029892.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The public capacity above is the current source-record value. A 2026 tracker candidate lists 1,126 MW for Gwangyang power station, but it is not used as the public primary value until scope is verified (unit vs operating vs installed/project total).
Capacity claim grade: B_SCOPE_PARENT_COMPLEX - recommended action: build_parent_complex_model - confidence: not_comparable_without_scope. This follows a claim-based data model: value + scope + source + confidence, rather than silently overwriting records.
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 L100000401368); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 500 MW, Gwangyang POSCO is around the median gas plant in South Korea (515 MW). Technically it is described as CCGT; combined-cycle with a heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG). 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 POSCO. 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 humid subtropical (dry winter) climate (Köppen Cwa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 34.9°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 11% 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: 46/100 — 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 #43 largest gas power plant of 77 in South Korea by capacity.
South Korea has 77 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 58,006 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 34.9073, 127.7449 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Gwangyang POSCO is a 500 MW source-record gas power plant in Jeollanam-do, South Korea, commissioned in 2000.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 563,142 homes (estimated).
Gwangyang POSCO is operated by POSCO.
