Oil power plant in Atacama, Chile. Approximate location -29.113888, -70.914304.
OilAtacamaChileEngine
Pajonales power station is a 100.8 MW oil power station in Atacama, Chile. It is operated by Prime Energia [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 76k homes (estimated). It ranks #75 of 336 Chile power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2021, it is around 5 years old — recently built. In context, oil supplies about 0.6% of Chile's electricity; the national grid averages 289 gCO₂/kWh (66.4% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GOGPT_pajonales_chile.
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 · 2026 · L100000408573; fuel: GEM GOGPT
At 100.8 MW, Pajonales power station is well above the median oil plant in Chile (11.3 MW). Technically it is described as Engine. 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.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Prime Energia [100%].
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a cold desert climate (Köppen BWk) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 29.1°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 4% 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: 52/100 — this site sits in the mid 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 dust abrasion 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 #13 largest oil power plant of 78 in Chile by capacity.
Chile has 78 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 3,578 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -29.113888, -70.914304 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Pajonales power station is a 100.8 MW oil power plant in Atacama, Chile, commissioned in 2021.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 75,686 homes (estimated).
Pajonales power station is operated by Prime Energia [100%].
