Sahand is a 1,101 MW oil power station in East Azerbaijan, Iran. It is operated by Thermal Power Plants Holding Co [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 827k homes (estimated). It ranks #26 of 177 Iran power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2004, it is around 22 years old — relatively modern. In context, oil supplies about 4.6% of Iran's electricity; the national grid averages 660 gCO₂/kWh (5.7% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1008178.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The public capacity above is the current source-record value. A 2026 tracker candidate lists 1,101 MW for Sahand power station, but it is not used as the public primary value until scope is verified (unit vs operating vs installed/project total).
Capacity claim grade: A3_MAJOR_REVIEW_SCOPE_STATUS - recommended action: manual_scope_status_check - confidence: low_until_scope_verified. This follows a claim-based data model: value + scope + source + confidence, rather than silently overwriting records.
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 L100000407002); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 1,101 MW, Sahand is well above the median oil plant in Iran (640 MW). Technically it is described as CCGT; combined-cycle with a heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG); Mapna Group: MGT-80. 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 Thermal Power Plants Holding Co [100%].
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a cold semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSk) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 37.4°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 5% 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: 52/100 — this site sits in the mid 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 #6 largest oil power plant of 18 in Iran by capacity.
Iran has 18 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 12,674 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 37.424, 46.013 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Sahand is a 1,101 MW source-record oil power plant in East Azerbaijan, Iran, commissioned in 2004.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 826,693 homes (estimated).
Sahand is operated by Thermal Power Plants Holding Co [100%].
