Oil power plant in León, Nicaragua. Approximate location 12.178792, -86.767166.
OilLeónNicaraguaSteam
Planta Nicaragua power station is a 106 MW oil power station in León, Nicaragua. It is operated by Generadora Eléctrica Occidental SA [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 80k homes (estimated). It ranks #3 of 19 Nicaragua power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1976, it is around 50 years old — long-established. In context, oil supplies about 37.6% of Nicaragua's electricity; the national grid averages 301 gCO₂/kWh (62.4% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GOGPT_plantanicaragua_nicara.
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 · L100000408602; fuel: GEM GOGPT
At 106 MW, Planta Nicaragua power station is well above the median oil plant in Nicaragua (61.2 MW). Technically it is described as Steam. 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 Generadora Eléctrica Occidental SA [100%].
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 12.2°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Climate zone & typical temperatures: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
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 an aggressive, high-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C5 — Very high), with marine salt corrosion 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 #2 largest oil power plant of 10 in Nicaragua by capacity.
Nicaragua has 10 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 665 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 12.178792, -86.767166 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Planta Nicaragua power station is a 106 MW oil power plant in León, Nicaragua, commissioned in 1976.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 79,590 homes (estimated).
Planta Nicaragua power station is operated by Generadora Eléctrica Occidental SA [100%].
