KW Walsum is a 1,200 MW coal power station in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is operated by Steag GmbH. Based on reported annual generation of 3,430 GWh, it can supply roughly 980k homes. It ranks #31 of 1,442 Germany power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1959, it is around 67 years old — an older, legacy facility. Its annual emissions of 1,244,432 t CO₂/yr (EU ETS verified (EUTL 2023)) are equivalent to about 290k cars driven for a year. In context, coal supplies about 20.6% of Germany's electricity; the national grid averages 330 gCO₂/kWh (59.1% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1005916.
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 1,200 MW, KW Walsum is well above the median coal plant in Germany (296 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.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; emissions per EU ETS verified (EUTL 2023) (measured for US EPA/EU ETS, modelled for Climate TRACE).
Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Steag GmbH.
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 51.5°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 9% 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: 54/100 — this site sits in the mid 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 moderately corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C3 — Medium), 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 #14 largest coal power plant of 124 in Germany by capacity.
Germany has 124 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 64,920 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 51.5267, 6.7187 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
KW Walsum is a 1,200 MW source-record coal power plant in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, commissioned in 1959.
KW Walsum generates about 3,430 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 979,971 homes.
KW Walsum is operated by Steag GmbH.
KW Walsum has measured emissions of about 1,244,432 tonnes of CO₂ per year (EU ETS verified (EUTL 2023)).
