Coal power plant in P'yongan-bukto, North Korea. Approximate location 39.5858, 126.3043.
CoalP'yongan-buktoNorth Korea
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 2,002,285 homes (estimated). It ranks #1 of 31 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.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Estimated, not measured: from installed capacity at a typical 50% load factor × a typical coal emission factor (~1000 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 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.
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 #1 largest coal power plant of 16 in North Korea by capacity.
North Korea has 16 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 5,403 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 39.5858, 126.3043 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
