Coal power plant in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. Approximate location 54.7255, -5.7653.
CoalNorthern IrelandUnited Kingdomsubcritical
Kilroot is a 824 MW coal power station in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. It is operated by AES. Based on reported annual generation of 1,001 GWh, it can supply roughly 286k homes. It ranks #63 of 2,860 United Kingdom power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2009, it is around 17 years old — relatively modern. 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 GBR1000002.
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 L100000103768); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 824 MW, Kilroot is below the median coal plant in United Kingdom (1,140 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 AES. All plants by this company →
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 54.7°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 35% 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: 71/100 — 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 corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), 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 #18 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 54.7255, -5.7653 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Kilroot is a 824 MW source-record coal power plant in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, commissioned in 2009.
Kilroot generates about 1,001 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 285,885 homes.
Kilroot is operated by AES.
