Gas power plant in Alberta, Canada. Approximate location 58.4471, -119.2383.
GasAlbertaCanadaOCGT
Rainbow Lake A is a 88 MW gas power plant in Alberta, Canada. It is operated by SaskPower. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 99k homes (estimated). It ranks #313 of 1,211 Canada power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1961, it is around 65 years old — an older, legacy facility. In context, gas supplies about 17.8% of Canada's electricity; the national grid averages 191 gCO₂/kWh (77.0% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id CAN1060737.
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 L100000407717); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 88 MW, Rainbow Lake A is below the median gas plant in Canada (170 MW). Technically it is described as OCGT. Gas plants burn natural gas either in open-cycle turbines for fast peaking, or in combined-cycle units that recover exhaust heat in an HRSG to reach roughly 55–62% efficiency — the cleanest-burning fossil option.
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 SaskPower.
This gas plant burns natural gas in a turbine — often in a combined-cycle setup — to generate electricity. It sits in a subarctic (boreal) climate (Köppen Dfc) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 58.4°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 178% 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: 99/100 — this site sits in the top third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
A gas turbine here also runs ~0% below its ISO (15°C) rating at this annual mean (typical CCGT curve, estimate).
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 #91 largest gas power plant of 112 in Canada by capacity.
Canada has 112 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 37,176 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 58.4471, -119.2383 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Rainbow Lake A is a 88 MW source-record gas power plant in Alberta, Canada, commissioned in 1961.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 99,113 homes (estimated).
Rainbow Lake A is operated by SaskPower.
