Oil power plant in Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia. Approximate location 24.65, 46.728.
OilAr RiyadSaudi Arabia
Riyadh 3 is a 70 MW oil power plant in Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia. It is operated by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC). Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 53k homes (estimated). It ranks #138 of 156 Saudi Arabia power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1972, it is around 54 years old — an older, legacy facility. In context, oil supplies about 34.5% of Saudi Arabia's electricity; the national grid averages 692 gCO₂/kWh (2.2% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1030685.
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: WRI Global Power Plant Database source-record (legacy); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 70 MW, Riyadh 3 is below the median oil plant in Saudi Arabia (365 MW). 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 Saudi Electricity Company (SEC). All plants by this company →
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 24.6°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 93% below 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: 16/100 — this site sits in the bottom 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 benign, low-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C1 — Very low), with dust abrasion 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 #66 largest oil power plant of 76 in Saudi Arabia by capacity.
Saudi Arabia has 76 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 61,625 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 24.65, 46.728 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Riyadh 3 is a 70 MW source-record oil power plant in Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia, commissioned in 1972.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 52,560 homes (estimated).
Riyadh 3 is operated by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).
