Hsinkang SK power station is a 361 MW coal power station in Chiayi, Taiwan. It is operated by Formosa Chemicals & Fibers. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 452k homes (estimated). It ranks #29 of 60 Taiwan power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1995, it is around 31 years old — long-established. In context, coal supplies about 36.3% of Taiwan's electricity; the national grid averages 633 gCO₂/kWh (13.4% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1075559.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
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 L100000103536); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 361 MW, Hsinkang SK power station is well above the median coal plant in Taiwan (324 MW). Technically it is described as subcritical. Coal plants burn pulverised coal to raise high-pressure steam for a turbine; they run as baseload but are the most carbon-intensive mainstream source and the first targeted for retirement or efficiency retrofits.
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 Formosa Chemicals & Fibers.
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a humid subtropical (dry winter) climate (Köppen Cwa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 23.5°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 91% 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: 17/100 — this site sits in the bottom 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 an aggressive, high-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C5 — Very high), with marine salt 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 #9 largest coal power plant of 19 in Taiwan by capacity.
Taiwan has 19 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 26,070 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 23.5186, 120.3749 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Hsinkang SK power station is a 361 MW source-record coal power plant in Chiayi, Taiwan, commissioned in 1995.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 451,765 homes (estimated).
Hsinkang SK power station is operated by Formosa Chemicals & Fibers.
