Maalaea

Oil power plant in Hawaii, United States of America. Approximate location 20.8012, -156.493.

OilHawaiiUnited States of AmericaCO₂ reported

Maalaea is a 230 MW oil power station in Hawaii, United States of America. It is operated by Maui Electric Co Ltd. Based on reported annual generation of 701 GWh, it can supply roughly 200,342 homes. It ranks #1140 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1989, it is around 37 years old — long-established. Its measured emissions of 136,360 t CO₂/yr (Climate TRACE) are equivalent to about 31,786 cars driven for a year. In context, oil supplies about 0.7% of United States of America's electricity; the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).

230MW installed capacity
701GWh reported / yr
200,342homes powered
136,360t CO₂ / yr (Climate TRACE)
1989commissioned (~37 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0006504.

136,360 t CO₂/yr — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

31,786passenger cars driven for a year
17,783homes' yearly energy use
2,272,667tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; emissions reported to Climate TRACE.

Reported generation trend

2013: 727 GWh20132014: 679 GWh20142015: 722 GWh20152016: 704 GWh20162017: 694 GWh20172018: 676 GWh20182019: 701 GWh2019727 GWh

Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by Maui Electric Co Ltd. All plants by this company →

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) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 20.8°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

22.2°Cannual mean temp
0heating degree-days (base 18°C)
1,530cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
358 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 20 °CJF: 20 °CFM: 21 °CMA: 21 °CAM: 22 °CMJ: 23 °CJJ: 24 °CJA: 24 °CAS: 24 °CSO: 23 °CON: 22 °CND: 21 °CD24 °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 #31 largest oil power plant of 876 in United States of America by capacity.

United States of America has 876 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 37,143 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 20.8012, -156.493 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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