Coal power plant in Limpopo, South Africa. Approximate location -23.6678, 27.6128.
CoalLimpopoSouth AfricaCO₂ reported
Matimba power station is a 3,990 MW coal power station in Limpopo, South Africa. It is operated by Eskom. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 4,993,200 homes (estimated). It ranks #4 of 122 South Africa power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1989, it is around 37 years old — long-established. Its measured emissions of 17,790,000 t CO₂/yr (Climate TRACE) are equivalent to about 4,146,853 cars driven for a year. In context, coal supplies about 81.4% of South Africa's electricity; the national grid averages 699 gCO₂/kWh (17.8% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1000130.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; emissions reported to Climate TRACE.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Eskom. All plants by this company →
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a hot semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSh) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 23.7°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 87% 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: 18/100 — 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.
The #4 largest coal power plant of 18 in South Africa by capacity.
South Africa has 18 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 44,563 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -23.6678, 27.6128 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
