Coal power plant in Biobio, Chile. Approximate location -37.042, -73.13.
CoalBiobioChile
SANTA MARIA is a 342 MW coal power station in Biobio, Chile. It is operated by COLBUN S.A.. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 427,988 homes (estimated). It ranks #16 of 315 Chile power plants by installed capacity. In context, coal supplies about 17.8% 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 CHL0000070.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Estimated, not measured: from installed capacity at a typical 50% load factor × a typical coal emission factor (~1000 g CO₂/kWh, IPCC AR5 / US EIA). Actual emissions depend on plant efficiency and running hours.Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by COLBUN S.A.. All plants by this company →
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 37.0°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 8% 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: 47/100 — 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 #5 largest coal power plant of 14 in Chile by capacity.
Chile has 14 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 4,839 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -37.042, -73.13 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
