SOTO RIBERA 3 is a 346 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 tracker 2026 (location L100000103503); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 346 MW, SOTO RIBERA 3 is below the median coal plant in Spain (516 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 MW source-record 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..
