SOTO RIBERA 3 is a 346.2 MW coal power station in Asturias, Spain. It is operated by HIDROELECTRICA DEL CANTABRICO S.A.. Based on reported annual generation of 3,292 GWh, it can supply roughly 940k homes. It ranks #75 of 899 Spain power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1984, it is around 42 years old — long-established. In context, coal supplies about 0.3% of Spain's electricity; the national grid averages 154 gCO₂/kWh (74.6% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1007944.
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 · L100000103503; fuel: WRI GPPD
At 346.2 MW, SOTO RIBERA 3 is below the median coal plant in Spain (515.6 MW). Technically it is described as subcritical. Its current lifecycle status is “Mothballed” — so it is not yet, or no longer, generating at full output. 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 HIDROELECTRICA DEL CANTABRICO 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) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 43.3°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 11% 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: 46/100 — this site sits in the mid 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 corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with marine 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 #16 largest coal power plant of 24 in Spain by capacity.
Spain has 24 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 12,360 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 43.3122, -5.8739 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
SOTO RIBERA 3 is a 346.2 MW coal power plant in Asturias, Spain, commissioned in 1984.
SOTO RIBERA 3 generates about 3,292 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 940,457 homes.
SOTO RIBERA 3 is operated by HIDROELECTRICA DEL CANTABRICO S.A..
