Biomass power plant in Escuintla, Guatemala. Approximate location 14.35, -91.065.
BiomassEscuintlaGuatemala
Madre Tierra is a 28 MW biomass power plant in Escuintla, Guatemala. Based on reported annual generation of 144 GWh, it can supply roughly 41k homes. It ranks #40 of 77 Guatemala power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1996, it is around 30 years old — long-established. In context, biomass supplies about 22.2% 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 WRI1061442.
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 28 MW, Madre Tierra is below the median biomass plant in Guatemala (77 MW). Biomass plants burn organic material such as wood, residues or waste-derived fuel to raise steam; they are dispatchable and counted as low-carbon where the feedstock is sustainably sourced.
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).
This biomass plant burns organic material (wood, residues) to raise steam for a turbine. It sits in a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 14.3°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 #11 largest biomass power plant of 13 in Guatemala by capacity.
Guatemala has 13 biomass power plants in this dataset, together about 880 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 14.35, -91.065 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Madre Tierra is a 28 MW source-record biomass power plant in Escuintla, Guatemala, commissioned in 1996.
Madre Tierra generates about 144 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 41,200 homes.
