MELAMARUTHUR (MUTHIARA) is a 1,200 MW coal power station in Tamil Nadu, India. It is operated by Vainateya Power Pvt Ltd [100%]. Based on reported annual generation of 2,980 GWh, it can supply roughly 852k homes. It ranks #329 of 2,229 India power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2015, it is around 11 years old — relatively modern. In context, coal supplies about 70.8% of India's electricity; the national grid averages 670 gCO₂/kWh (26.7% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id IND0000264.
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 1,200 MW, MELAMARUTHUR (MUTHIARA) is well above the median coal plant in India (1,000 MW). Technically it is described as subcritical. Its current lifecycle status is “mothballed” — so it is not yet, or no longer, generating at full output. Coal plants burn pulverised coal to raise high-pressure steam for a turbine; they run as baseload but are the most carbon-intensive mainstream source and the first targeted for retirement or efficiency retrofits.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Vainateya Power Pvt Ltd [100%].
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 8.9°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 an aggressive, high-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C5 — Very high), with marine salt corrosion 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 #308 largest coal power plant of 716 in India by capacity.
India has 716 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 806,969 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 8.9159, 78.1374 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
MELAMARUTHUR (MUTHIARA) is a 1,200 MW source-record coal power plant in Tamil Nadu, India, commissioned in 2015.
MELAMARUTHUR (MUTHIARA) generates about 2,980 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 851,571 homes.
MELAMARUTHUR (MUTHIARA) is operated by Vainateya Power Pvt Ltd [100%].
