Coal power plant in Qaraghandy, Kazakhstan. Approximate location 49.9167, 73.2372.
CoalQaraghandyKazakhstan
Karaganda TPS-3 power station is a 590 MW coal power station in Qaraghandy, Kazakhstan. It is operated by TOO Karaganda Energy Center. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 738k homes (estimated). It ranks #24 of 80 Kazakhstan power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1988, it is around 38 years old — long-established. In context, coal supplies about 54.3% of Kazakhstan's electricity; the national grid averages 805 gCO₂/kWh (14.9% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1075833.
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 670 MW for Karaganda-3 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: C_REVIEW_MANUAL - recommended action: manual_review_only - confidence: unknown. 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 L100000102982); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 590 MW, Karaganda TPS-3 power station is well above the median coal plant in Kazakhstan (435 MW). 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 TOO Karaganda Energy Center.
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 49.9°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 123% 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: 96/100 — 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 thermal cycling 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 #11 largest coal power plant of 32 in Kazakhstan by capacity.
Kazakhstan has 32 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 20,941 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 49.9167, 73.2372 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Karaganda TPS-3 power station is a 590 MW source-record coal power plant in Qaraghandy, Kazakhstan, commissioned in 1988.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 738,342 homes (estimated).
Karaganda TPS-3 power station is operated by TOO Karaganda Energy Center.
