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Sariwon

Coal power plant in Hwanghae-bukto, North Korea. Approximate location 38.4631, 125.8289.

CoalHwanghae-buktoNorth Korea

Sariwon is a 200 MW coal power station in Hwanghae-bukto, North Korea. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 250,285 homes (estimated). It ranks #20 of 31 North Korea power plants by installed capacity. In context, coal supplies about 34.1% of North Korea's electricity; the national grid averages 341 gCO₂/kWh (63.4% low-carbon) (2024).

200MW installed capacity
250,285homes powered (est.)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1019827.

~876,000 t CO₂/yr (estimated) — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

204,196passenger cars driven for a year
114,241homes' yearly energy use
14,600,000tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

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.

Capacity vs largest coal plants in North Korea

Pukchang power station: 1,600 MW2kPukchang p…East Pyongyang power station: 500 MW500East Pyong…Hamhung: 500 MW500HamhungChongjin City power station: 450 MW450Chongjin C…Pyongyang power station: 400 MW400Pyongyang …Rajin: 400 MW400RajinSunchon power station: 400 MW400Sunchon po…December (Nampo) power station: 200 MW200December (…

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

Local climate & thermal context

This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a monsoon hot-summer continental climate (Köppen Dwa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 38.5°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

10.2°Cannual mean temp
3,260heating degree-days (base 18°C)
453cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
118 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: -5 °CJF: -3 °CFM: 3 °CMA: 10 °CAM: 16 °CMJ: 21 °CJJ: 24 °CJA: 24 °CAS: 19 °CSO: 12 °CON: 5 °CND: -2 °CD24 °C

Heating degree-days here run 33% 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: 70/100 — this site sits in the top 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.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #11 largest coal power plant of 16 in North Korea by capacity.

North Korea has 16 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 5,403 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 38.4631, 125.8289 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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