Coal power plant in Fife, United Kingdom. Approximate location 56.190918, -2.996732.
CoalFifeUnited Kingdomsubcritical
Methil power station is a 60 MW coal power plant in Fife, United Kingdom. It is operated by ScottishPower Ltd [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 75k homes (estimated). It ranks #222 of 2,860 United Kingdom power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1965, it is around 61 years old — an older, legacy facility. In context, coal supplies about 0.1% of United Kingdom's electricity; the national grid averages 217 gCO₂/kWh (64.4% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GEM_coa_methil_unite.
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: GEM GCPT; fuel: GEM GCPT
At 60 MW, Methil power station is below the median coal plant in United Kingdom (1,140 MW). Technically it is described as subcritical. 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.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by ScottishPower Ltd [100%].
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 56.2°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 40% above 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: 74/100 — this site sits in the top third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
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 #23 largest coal power plant of 23 in United Kingdom by capacity.
United Kingdom has 23 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 35,428 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 56.190918, -2.996732 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Methil power station is a 60 MW coal power plant in Fife, United Kingdom, commissioned in 1965.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 75,085 homes (estimated).
Methil power station is operated by ScottishPower Ltd [100%].
