Coal power plant in Escuintla, Guatemala. Approximate location 14.16, -90.787.
CoalEscuintlaGuatemalasubcritical
San Jose is a 139 MW coal power station in Escuintla, Guatemala. It is operated by Corporación Energías de Guatemala SA [100%]. Based on reported annual generation of 1,045 GWh, it can supply roughly 298k homes. It ranks #6 of 77 Guatemala power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2000, it is around 26 years old — long-established. In context, coal supplies about 15.8% of Guatemala's electricity; the national grid averages 301 gCO₂/kWh (68.3% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1061419.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
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 L100000102009); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 139 MW, San Jose is around the median coal plant in Guatemala (139 MW). Technically it is described as subcritical. 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.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Corporación Energías de Guatemala SA [100%].
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 14.2°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
This site has effectively no heating season (tropical/equatorial climate), so winter heat loss is not the driver here. The thermal concern shifts to year-round process heat and humidity/heat-driven corrosion of hot equipment.
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 an aggressive, high-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C5 — Very high), with marine salt 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 #3 largest coal power plant of 6 in Guatemala by capacity.
Guatemala has 6 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 856 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 14.16, -90.787 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
San Jose is a 139 MW source-record coal power plant in Escuintla, Guatemala, commissioned in 2000.
San Jose generates about 1,045 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 298,485 homes.
San Jose is operated by Corporación Energías de Guatemala SA [100%].
