Home / Africa / Congo / Mpila

Mpila

Oil power plant in Brazzaville, Congo. Approximate location -4.2496, 15.3025.

OilBrazzavilleCongo

Mpila is a 26 MW oil power plant in Brazzaville, Congo. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 19,221 homes (estimated). It ranks #6 of 8 Congo power plants by installed capacity. In context, oil supplies about 5.3% of Congo's electricity; the national grid averages 716 gCO₂/kWh (20.9% low-carbon) (2024).

26MW installed capacity
19,221homes powered (est.)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1023152.

~50,458 t CO₂/yr (estimated) — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

11,762passenger cars driven for a year
6,580homes' yearly energy use
840,960tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

Estimated, not measured: from installed capacity at a typical 30% load factor × a typical oil emission factor (~750 g CO₂/kWh, IPCC AR5 / US EIA). Actual emissions depend on plant efficiency and running hours.Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies.

Capacity vs largest oil plants in Congo

Loango: 45 MW45LoangoMpila: 26 MW26Mpila

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Local climate & thermal context

This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 4.2°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

25.2°Cannual mean temp
0heating degree-days (base 18°C)
2,643cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
269 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 26 °CJF: 26 °CFM: 26 °CMA: 27 °CAM: 26 °CMJ: 24 °CJJ: 22 °CJA: 24 °CAS: 25 °CSO: 26 °CON: 26 °CND: 26 °CD27 °C

Heating degree-days here run 100% 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: 13/100 — 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.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #2 largest oil power plant of 2 in Congo by capacity.

Congo has 2 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 71 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates -4.2496, 15.3025 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Built from open public data; no personal information. Operate this site? Request a correction or removal.