Coal power plant in North Ayrshire, United Kingdom. Approximate location 55.720194, -4.89893.
CoalNorth AyrshireUnited Kingdomsupercritical
Hunterston Power Station is a 1,600 MW coal power station in North Ayrshire, United Kingdom. It is operated by Ayrshire Power LP [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 2.0 million homes (estimated). It ranks #24 of 2,860 United Kingdom power plants by installed capacity. In context, coal supplies about 0.1% of United Kingdom's electricity; the national grid averages 217 gCO₂/kWh (64.4% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GEM_coa_hunterston_unite.
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: GEM GCPT; fuel: GEM GCPT
At 1,600 MW, Hunterston Power Station is well above the median coal plant in United Kingdom (1,140 MW). Technically it is described as supercritical. 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 Ayrshire Power LP [100%].
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 55.7°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 31% 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: 68/100 — this site sits in the top 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 mild atmospheric environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C2 — Low), 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 #10 largest coal power plant of 23 in United Kingdom by capacity.
United Kingdom has 23 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 35,428 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 55.720194, -4.89893 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Hunterston Power Station is a 1,600 MW coal power plant in North Ayrshire, United Kingdom.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 2,002,285 homes (estimated).
Hunterston Power Station is operated by Ayrshire Power LP [100%].
