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Salamanca

Oil power plant in Guanajuato, Mexico. Approximate location 20.5694, -101.1712.

OilGuanajuatoMexicoCCGT · HRSGGE Power: 7FA.03CO₂ modelled

Salamanca is a 550 MW oil power station in Guanajuato, Mexico. It is operated by CFE. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 413k homes (estimated). It ranks #56 of 366 Mexico power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2017, it is around 9 years old — relatively modern. Its modelled annual emissions are 2,235,400 t CO₂/yr (Climate TRACE), equivalent to about 521k cars driven for a year. In context, oil supplies about 9.4% of Mexico's electricity; the national grid averages 474 gCO₂/kWh (25.9% low-carbon) (2025).

550Source-backed capacity
1HRSG unit(s)
412,971homes powered (est.)
2,235,400t CO₂ / yr (Climate TRACE)
2017commissioned (~9 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id MEX0001786.

Data status

Known data

FacilitySalamanca WRI
CountryMexico · Guanajuato WRI
Coordinates20.5694, -101.1712 WRI
FuelOil WRI
MW installed capacity550 MW WRI source record; scope not independently normalised
OwnerCFE WRI
Commissioned2017 WRI
TechnologyCCGT · GE Power: 7FA.03 · HRSG WRI

Modelled source data

CO₂ emissions2,235,400 t CO₂/yr modelled · Climate TRACE

Calculated from dataset

Capacity rank in country#56 of 366 calculated
Fuel-specific rank in country#7 of 27 calculated
Capacity vs country/fuel peers1.83× · 300 MW median · 27 peers calculated
Homes-powered equivalent412,971 calculated
Climate18.5°C · HDD 310 derived from coordinates
Environmental severityC2 · 30/100 derived from coordinates

Not available

GWh reported / yrNot available not in dataset

Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.

Capacity provenance

The public capacity above is the current source-record value. A 2026 tracker candidate lists 927 MW for CCC Salamanca 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: B_SCOPE_PARENT_COMPLEX - recommended action: build_parent_complex_model - confidence: not_comparable_without_scope. This follows a claim-based data model: value + scope + source + confidence, rather than silently overwriting records.

Data provenance

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 L100000406267); fuel: WRI source-record fuel

In context: how this plant compares

At 550 MW, Salamanca is well above the median oil plant in Mexico (300 MW). Technically it is described as CCGT; combined-cycle with a heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG); GE Power: 7FA.03. 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.

~2,235,400 t CO₂/yr (modelled) — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

521kpassenger cars driven for a year
292khomes' yearly energy use
37 milliontree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; modelled emissions from Climate TRACE.

Capacity vs largest oil plants in Mexico

Adolfo López Mateos (Tuxpan): 2,100 MW2kAdolfo Lóp…Francisco Pérez Ríos (Tula): 1,606 MW2kFrancisco …Manuel Álvarez Moreno (Manzanillo): 1,300 MW1kManuel Álv…Villa de Reyes: 700 MW700Villa de R…Puerto Libertad: 632 MW632Puerto Lib…José Aceves Pozos (Mazatlán II): 616 MW616José Aceve…Salamanca: 550 MW550SalamancaAltamira: 500 MW500Altamira

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by CFE. All plants by this company →

Local climate & thermal context

This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a humid subtropical (dry winter) climate (Köppen Cwa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 20.6°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

18.5°Cannual mean temp
310heating degree-days (base 18°C)
512cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
1,741 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 14 °CJF: 15 °CFM: 18 °CMA: 20 °CAM: 22 °CMJ: 22 °CJJ: 20 °CJA: 20 °CAS: 20 °CSO: 18 °CON: 17 °CND: 15 °CD22 °C

Heating degree-days here run 87% 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: 18/100 — 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.

Site climate & environmental severity

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 mild atmospheric environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C2 — Low), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.

C2ISO 9223 corrosivity (indicative)
30/100environmental-severity index
7.9°Cseasonal temperature swing
307 kmdistance to coast

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.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #7 largest oil power plant of 27 in Mexico by capacity.

Mexico has 27 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 12,022 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 20.5694, -101.1712 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions

What type of power plant is Salamanca?

Salamanca is a 550 MW source-record oil power plant in Guanajuato, Mexico, commissioned in 2017.

How many homes can Salamanca power?

Its output is enough to supply roughly 412,971 homes (estimated).

Who operates Salamanca?

Salamanca is operated by CFE.

How much CO₂ does Salamanca emit?

Salamanca has modelled emissions of about 2,235,400 tonnes of CO₂ per year (Climate TRACE).

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