Gas power plant in Alberta, Canada. Approximate location 57.0413, -111.9055.
GasAlbertaCanadaOCGT
MacKay River is a 165 MW gas power station in Alberta, Canada. It is operated by TransCanada. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 186k homes (estimated). It ranks #195 of 1,211 Canada power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2004, it is around 22 years old — relatively modern. In context, gas supplies about 17.8% of Canada's electricity; the national grid averages 191 gCO₂/kWh (77.0% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id CAN0002064.
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 L100000405235); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 165 MW, MacKay River is around the median gas plant in Canada (170 MW). Technically it is described as OCGT. Gas plants burn natural gas either in open-cycle turbines for fast peaking, or in combined-cycle units that recover exhaust heat in an HRSG to reach roughly 55–62% efficiency — the cleanest-burning fossil option.
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 TransCanada. All plants by this company →
This gas plant burns natural gas in a turbine — often in a combined-cycle setup — to generate electricity. It sits in a subarctic (boreal) climate (Köppen Dfc) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 57.0°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 163% 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: 99/100 — this site sits in the top third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
A gas turbine here also runs ~0% below its ISO (15°C) rating at this annual mean (typical CCGT curve, estimate).
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 benign, low-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C1 — Very low), with thermal cycling 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 #59 largest gas power plant of 112 in Canada by capacity.
Canada has 112 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 37,176 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 57.0413, -111.9055 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
MacKay River is a 165 MW source-record gas power plant in Alberta, Canada, commissioned in 2004.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 185,837 homes (estimated).
MacKay River is operated by TransCanada.
