Lae

Oil power plant in Morobe, Papua New Guinea. Approximate location -6.738, 146.9912.

OilMorobePapua New Guinea

Lae is a 30 MW oil power plant in Morobe, Papua New Guinea. It is operated by Daewoo International. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 22,525 homes (estimated). It ranks #5 of 15 Papua New Guinea power plants by installed capacity. In context, oil supplies about 57.1% of Papua New Guinea's electricity; the national grid averages 514 gCO₂/kWh (23.7% low-carbon) (2024).

30MW installed capacity
22,525homes powered (est.)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1022435.

~59,130 t CO₂/yr (estimated) — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

13,783passenger cars driven for a year
7,711homes' yearly energy use
985,500tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

Estimated, not measured: from installed capacity at a typical 30% load factor × a typical oil emission factor (~750 g CO₂/kWh, IPCC AR5 / US EIA). Actual emissions depend on plant efficiency and running hours.Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies.

Capacity vs largest oil plants in Papua New Guinea

Ok Tedi: 45 MW45Ok TediLae: 30 MW30LaeKanudi: 24 MW24KanudiTabubil: 16 MW16TabubilPorgera: 13 MW13PorgeraUlagunan: 8 MW8UlagunanTolkuma: 4 MW4Tolkuma

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by Daewoo International.

Local climate & thermal context

This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen Af) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 6.7°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

26.5°Cannual mean temp
0heating degree-days (base 18°C)
3,091cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
36 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 27 °CJF: 27 °CFM: 27 °CMA: 27 °CAM: 26 °CMJ: 26 °CJJ: 25 °CJA: 25 °CAS: 26 °CSO: 26 °CON: 27 °CND: 27 °CD27 °C

Heating degree-days here run 100% 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: 13/100 — this site sits in the bottom third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.

In colder climates, uninsulated hot equipment (boilers, turbines, valves, steam lines) loses proportionally more heat to ambient air — exactly the loss Inzonex modular insulation is designed to cut.

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.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #2 largest oil power plant of 7 in Papua New Guinea by capacity.

Papua New Guinea has 7 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 140 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates -6.738, 146.9912 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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