Hydro power plant in Guatemala Department, Guatemala. Approximate location 14.76, -90.5.
HydroGuatemala DepartmentGuatemalaconventional storage
Las Vacas is a 39 MW hydro power plant in Guatemala Department, Guatemala. It is operated by Fabrigas SA; Cementos Progreso SA. Based on reported annual generation of 87 GWh, it can supply roughly 25k homes. It ranks #34 of 77 Guatemala power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2002, it is around 24 years old — relatively modern. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, hydro supplies about 39.9% of Guatemala's electricity; the national grid averages 301 gCO₂/kWh (68.3% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1061396.
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 L100001054722); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 39 MW, Las Vacas is well above the median hydro plant in Guatemala (13 MW). Technically it is described as conventional storage. Hydropower converts the energy of falling or flowing water into electricity; output depends on rainfall and reservoir level, and large dams also provide grid balancing and storage.
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 Fabrigas SA; Cementos Progreso SA.
This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 14.8°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 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 #8 largest hydro power plant of 30 in Guatemala by capacity.
Guatemala has 30 hydro power plants in this dataset, together about 1,003 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 14.76, -90.5 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Las Vacas is a 39 MW source-record hydro power plant in Guatemala Department, Guatemala, commissioned in 2002.
Las Vacas generates about 87 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 24,971 homes.
Las Vacas is operated by Fabrigas SA; Cementos Progreso SA.
