KAIGA is a 880 MW nuclear power station in Karnataka, India. It is operated by Nuclear Power Corporation Of India Ltd [100%]. Based on reported annual generation of 6,532 GWh, it can supply roughly 1.9 million homes. It ranks #422 of 2,229 India power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2004, it is around 22 years old — relatively modern. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, nuclear supplies about 2.6% of India's electricity; the national grid averages 670 gCO₂/kWh (26.7% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id IND0000170.
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 L100000500220); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 880 MW, KAIGA is below the median nuclear plant in India (1,840 MW). Technically it is described as pressurized heavy water reactor. Nuclear plants split uranium to raise steam with no direct CO₂; they run as steady baseload with very high capacity factors and the longest operating lifetimes of any thermal plant.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Nuclear Power Corporation Of India Ltd [100%].
This nuclear plant uses heat from nuclear fission to raise steam for a turbine-generator. It sits in a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 14.9°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
This site has effectively no heating season (tropical/equatorial climate), so winter heat loss is not the driver here. The thermal concern shifts to year-round process heat and humidity/heat-driven corrosion of hot equipment.
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 #14 largest nuclear power plant of 17 in India by capacity.
India has 17 nuclear power plants in this dataset, together about 44,460 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 14.865, 74.4385 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
KAIGA is a 880 MW source-record nuclear power plant in Karnataka, India, commissioned in 2004.
KAIGA generates about 6,532 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 1,866,400 homes.
KAIGA is operated by Nuclear Power Corporation Of India Ltd [100%].
