Coal power plant in Limpopo, South Africa. Approximate location -23.705, 27.5638.
CoalLimpopoSouth AfricaCO₂ reported
Medupi power station is a 4,769 MW coal power station in Limpopo, South Africa. It is operated by Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 5,967,812 homes (estimated). It ranks #1 of 122 South Africa power plants by installed capacity. Its measured emissions of 21,265,000 t CO₂/yr (Climate TRACE) are equivalent to about 4,956,876 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 CT-6220.
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 Holdings SOC Ltd.
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 #1 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 -23.705, 27.5638 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
