Coal power plant in P'yongan-bukto, North Korea. Approximate location 39.5858, 126.3043.
CoalP'yongan-buktoNorth Koreasubcritical
Pukchang power station is a 1,600 MW coal power station in P'yongan-bukto, North Korea. It is operated by Pukchang Thermal Plant Complex. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 2.0 million homes (estimated). It ranks #2 of 36 North Korea power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1976, it is around 50 years old — long-established. In context, coal supplies about 34.1% of North Korea's electricity; the national grid averages 341 gCO₂/kWh (63.4% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1019820.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The public capacity above is the current source-record value. A 2026 tracker candidate lists 2,000 MW for Pukchang power station, but it is not used as the public primary value until scope is verified (unit vs operating vs installed/project total).
Capacity claim grade: A2_GENERAL_REVIEW - recommended action: manual_source_check - confidence: medium_low. This follows a claim-based data model: value + scope + source + confidence, rather than silently overwriting records.
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 L100000103106); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 1,600 MW, Pukchang power station is well above the median coal plant in North Korea (200 MW). Technically it is described as subcritical. Coal plants burn pulverised coal to raise high-pressure steam for a turbine; they run as baseload but are the most carbon-intensive mainstream source and the first targeted for retirement or efficiency retrofits.
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 Pukchang Thermal Plant Complex.
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a monsoon warm-summer continental climate (Köppen Dwb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 39.6°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 61% 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: 84/100 — 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 mild atmospheric environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C2 — 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 #1 largest coal power plant of 18 in North Korea by capacity.
North Korea has 18 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 6,203 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 39.5858, 126.3043 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Pukchang power station is a 1,600 MW source-record coal power plant in P'yongan-bukto, North Korea, commissioned in 1976.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 2,002,285 homes (estimated).
Pukchang power station is operated by Pukchang Thermal Plant Complex.
