Nkana is a 20 MW oil power plant in Copperbelt, Zambia. It is operated by ZESCO. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 15,017 homes (estimated). It ranks #10 of 15 Zambia power plants by installed capacity. In context, oil supplies about 1.7% of Zambia's electricity; the national grid averages 120 gCO₂/kWh (87.5% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1022384.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
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.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by ZESCO. All plants by this company →
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a humid subtropical (dry winter) climate (Köppen Cwa) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 12.8°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 94% 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: 16/100 — 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 #4 largest oil power plant of 7 in Zambia by capacity.
Zambia has 7 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 170 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -12.8167, 28.2 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
