Oil power plant in Alaska, United States of America. Approximate location 64.7356, -147.3481.
OilAlaskaUnited States of AmericaCCGT · HRSGCO₂ modelled
North Pole is a 181 MW oil power station in Alaska, United States of America. It is operated by Golden Valley Elec Assn Inc. Based on reported annual generation of 431 GWh, it can supply roughly 123k homes. It ranks #2126 of 10,938 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1986, it is around 40 years old — long-established. Its modelled annual emissions are 112,313 t CO₂/yr (Climate TRACE), equivalent to about 26k cars driven for a year. In context, oil supplies about 0.7% of United States of America's electricity; the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0006285.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: GEM tracker 2026 (location L100000409243); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 181 MW, North Pole is well above the median oil plant in United States of America (7 MW). Technically it is described as CCGT; combined-cycle with a heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG). Oil-fired plants burn heavy fuel oil or diesel, usually as peaking or backup capacity on islands and grids without gas pipelines; high fuel cost keeps their utilisation low.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; modelled emissions from Climate TRACE.
Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Golden Valley Elec Assn Inc.
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a subarctic (boreal) climate (Köppen Dfc) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 64.7°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 212% 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: 100/100 — 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 benign, low-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C1 — Very low), with thermal cycling 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 #41 largest oil power plant of 902 in United States of America by capacity.
United States of America has 902 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 40,022 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 64.7356, -147.3481 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
North Pole is a 181 MW source-record oil power plant in Alaska, United States of America, commissioned in 1986.
North Pole generates about 431 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 123,228 homes.
North Pole is operated by Golden Valley Elec Assn Inc.
North Pole has modelled emissions of about 112,313 tonnes of CO₂ per year (Climate TRACE).
