'Muela is a 72 MW hydro power plant in Butha-Buthe, Lesotho. It ranks #1 of 1 Lesotho power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1998, it is around 28 years old — long-established. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, hydro supplies about 100.0% of Lesotho's electricity; the national grid averages 21 gCO₂/kWh (100.0% low-carbon) (2022).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1023088.
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 GPPD; fuel: WRI GPPD
Technically it is described as conventional storage. Its current lifecycle status is “Mothballed” — so it is not yet, or no longer, generating at full output. Hydropower converts the energy of falling or flowing water into electricity; output depends on rainfall and reservoir level, and large dams also provide grid balancing and storage.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Lesotho has 1 hydro power plant in this dataset, together about 72 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -28.7804, 28.4535 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
'Muela is a 72 MW hydro power plant in Butha-Buthe, Lesotho, commissioned in 1998.
