Coal power plant in Falcón, Venezuela. Approximate location 11.76, -70.184.
CoalFalcónVenezuelasubcritical
Refinación Paraguaná RA power station is a 300 MW coal power station in Falcón, Venezuela. It is operated by Petróleos de Venezuela SA [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 375k homes (estimated). It ranks #33 of 59 Venezuela power plants by installed capacity. In context, coal supplies about 0.0% of Venezuela's electricity; the national grid averages 86 gCO₂/kWh (91.1% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GEM_coa_refinacionparaguanar_venez.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and fuel fields on this page are source-record values from the upstream open dataset. They are useful for identification and ranking, but they have not been upgraded to a 2026 registry/GEM-location verified value.
capacity: GEM GCPT; fuel: GEM GCPT
At 300 MW, Refinación Paraguaná RA power station is around the median coal plant in Venezuela (300 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 Petróleos de Venezuela SA [100%].
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a hot semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSh) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 11.8°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
This site has effectively no heating season (tropical/equatorial climate), so winter heat loss is not the driver here. The thermal concern shifts to year-round process heat and humidity/heat-driven corrosion of hot equipment.
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 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 #4 largest coal power plant of 5 in Venezuela by capacity.
Venezuela has 5 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 2,800 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 11.76, -70.184 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Refinación Paraguaná RA power station is a 300 MW coal power plant in Falcón, Venezuela.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 375,428 homes (estimated).
Refinación Paraguaná RA power station is operated by Petróleos de Venezuela SA [100%].
