Coal power plant in Alberta, Canada. Approximate location 51.4426, -111.7919.
CoalAlbertaCanadaSteamsubcritical
Sheerness is a 780 MW coal power station in Alberta, Canada. It is operated by ATCO Power. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 976k homes (estimated). It ranks #56 of 1,211 Canada power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2021, it is around 5 years old — recently built. In context, coal supplies about 4.1% of Canada's electricity; the national grid averages 191 gCO₂/kWh (77.0% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id CAN0002085.
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 operating-unit sum (location L100000100166); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 780 MW, Sheerness is well above the median coal plant in Canada (540 MW). Technically it is described as Steam; 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 ATCO Power.
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 51.4°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 121% 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: 96/100 — this site sits in the top 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 mild atmospheric environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C2 — Low), with thermal cycling 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 #7 largest coal power plant of 21 in Canada by capacity.
Canada has 21 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 16,786 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 51.4426, -111.7919 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Sheerness is a 780 MW source-record coal power plant in Alberta, Canada, commissioned in 2021.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 976,114 homes (estimated).
Sheerness is operated by ATCO Power.
