Oil power plant in Atacama, Chile. Approximate location -28.507668, -70.91894.
OilAtacamaChileEngine
Maitencillo power station is a 68.4 MW oil power plant in Atacama, Chile. It is operated by Empresa Eléctrica de Vallenar SA [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 51k homes (estimated). It ranks #107 of 336 Chile power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2024, it is around 2 years old — recently built. In context, oil supplies about 0.6% of Chile's electricity; the national grid averages 289 gCO₂/kWh (66.4% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GOGPT_maitencillo_chile.
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 · 2026 · L100000408906; fuel: GEM GOGPT
At 68.4 MW, Maitencillo power station is well above the median oil plant in Chile (11.3 MW). Technically it is described as Engine. Oil-fired plants burn heavy fuel oil or diesel, usually as peaking or backup capacity on islands and grids without gas pipelines; high fuel cost keeps their utilisation low.
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 Empresa Eléctrica de Vallenar SA [100%].
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a cold desert climate (Köppen BWk) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 28.5°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Climate zone & typical temperatures: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
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 dust abrasion 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 #21 largest oil power plant of 78 in Chile by capacity.
Chile has 78 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 3,578 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -28.507668, -70.91894 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Maitencillo power station is a 68.4 MW oil power plant in Atacama, Chile, commissioned in 2024.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 51,358 homes (estimated).
Maitencillo power station is operated by Empresa Eléctrica de Vallenar SA [100%].
