Hydro power plant in Biobio, Chile. Approximate location -37.3603, -71.8657.
HydroBiobioChile
RUCUE is a 178 MW hydro power station in Biobio, Chile. It is operated by COLBUN S.A.. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 178,203 homes (estimated). It ranks #30 of 315 Chile power plants by installed capacity. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, hydro supplies about 22.2% of Chile's electricity; the national grid averages 289 gCO₂/kWh (66.4% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id CHL0001116.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by COLBUN S.A.. All plants by this company →
This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 37.4°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 20% 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: 61/100 — this site sits in the mid 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 #10 largest hydro power plant of 99 in Chile by capacity.
Chile has 99 hydro power plants in this dataset, together about 6,410 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -37.3603, -71.8657 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
