Gas power plant in Durham, United Kingdom. Approximate location 54.610203, -1.169996.
GasDurhamUnited KingdomCCGT · HRSG
Seal Sands power station is a 55 MW gas power plant in Durham, United Kingdom. It is operated by RWE Generation UK PLC [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 62k homes (estimated). It ranks #235 of 2,860 United Kingdom power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1999, it is around 27 years old — long-established. In context, gas supplies about 31.1% of United Kingdom's electricity; the national grid averages 217 gCO₂/kWh (64.4% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GOGPT_sealsands_united.
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 · 2026 · L100000407585; fuel: GEM GOGPT
At 55 MW, Seal Sands power station is below the median gas plant in United Kingdom (115 MW). Technically it is described as CCGT; combined-cycle with a heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG). Gas plants burn natural gas either in open-cycle turbines for fast peaking, or in combined-cycle units that recover exhaust heat in an HRSG to reach roughly 55–62% efficiency — the cleanest-burning fossil option.
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 RWE Generation UK PLC [100%].
This gas plant burns natural gas in a turbine — often in a combined-cycle setup — to generate electricity. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 54.6°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 36% 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: 72/100 — this site sits in the top third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
A gas turbine here also runs ~0% below its ISO (15°C) rating at this annual mean (typical CCGT curve, estimate).
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 humidity / wetness 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 #80 largest gas power plant of 130 in United Kingdom by capacity.
United Kingdom has 130 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 52,329 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 54.610203, -1.169996 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Seal Sands power station is a 55 MW gas power plant in Durham, United Kingdom, commissioned in 1999.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 61,945 homes (estimated).
Seal Sands power station is operated by RWE Generation UK PLC [100%].
