Hwange Coal Power Plant Zimbabwe is a 920 MW coal power station in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe. It is operated by Makomo Resources Pvt Ltd [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 1.2 million homes (estimated). It ranks #6 of 25 Zimbabwe power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1983, it is around 43 years old — long-established. In context, coal supplies about 42.9% of Zimbabwe's electricity; the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (57.1% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GEODB0040404.
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 920 MW, Hwange Coal Power Plant Zimbabwe is well above the median coal plant in Zimbabwe (600 MW). Technically it is described as unknown. 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 Makomo Resources Pvt Ltd [100%].
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a hot semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSh) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 18.4°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 97% 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: 14/100 — 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 a benign, low-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C1 — Very low), with dust abrasion 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 #6 largest coal power plant of 21 in Zimbabwe by capacity.
Zimbabwe has 21 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 15,630 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -18.3835, 26.47 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Hwange Coal Power Plant Zimbabwe is a 920 MW source-record coal power plant in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe, commissioned in 1983.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 1,151,314 homes (estimated).
Hwange Coal Power Plant Zimbabwe is operated by Makomo Resources Pvt Ltd [100%].
