Coal power plant in Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea. Approximate location 34.9103, 128.1085.
CoalGyeongsangnam-doSouth KoreaCO₂ modelled
Samcheonpo is a 3,240 MW coal power station in Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea. It is operated by Korea South East Power (KOSEP). Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 4.1 million homes (estimated). It ranks #9 of 216 South Korea power plants by installed capacity. Its modelled annual emissions are 7,216,200 t CO₂/yr (Climate TRACE), equivalent to about 1.7 million cars driven for a year. In context, coal supplies about 31.1% of South Korea's electricity; the national grid averages 417 gCO₂/kWh (40.0% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1000186.
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 2,120 MW for Samchonpo 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.
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: Wikidata P2109 nameplate capacity; fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 3,240 MW, Samcheonpo is well above the median coal plant in South Korea (400 MW). 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.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; modelled emissions from Climate TRACE.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Korea South East Power (KOSEP). All plants by this company →
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a humid subtropical (dry winter) climate (Köppen Cwa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 34.9°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 15% 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: 45/100 — 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 corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with marine 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 #6 largest coal power plant of 34 in South Korea by capacity.
South Korea has 34 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 46,928 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 34.9103, 128.1085 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Samcheonpo is a 3,240 MW source-record coal power plant in Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 4,054,628 homes (estimated).
Samcheonpo is operated by Korea South East Power (KOSEP).
Samcheonpo has modelled emissions of about 7,216,200 tonnes of CO₂ per year (Climate TRACE).
