Coal power plant in Virginia, United States of America. Approximate location 37.4556, -77.4308.
CoalVirginiaUnited States of AmericaCO₂ measured
Spruance Operating Services LLC is a 230 MW coal power station in Virginia, United States of America. It is operated by Veolia Energy Operating Service. Based on reported annual generation of 16 GWh, it can supply roughly 4.6k homes. It ranks #1878 of 10,938 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1992, it is around 34 years old — long-established. Its annual emissions of 321,365 t CO₂/yr (US EPA GHGRP) are equivalent to about 75k cars driven for a year. In context, coal supplies about 16.3% of United States of America's electricity; the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0054081.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and fuel fields on this page are source-record values from the upstream open dataset. They are useful for identification and ranking, but they have not been upgraded to a 2026 registry/GEM-location verified value.
capacity: WRI Global Power Plant Database source-record (legacy); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 230 MW, Spruance Operating Services LLC is below the median coal plant in United States of America (558 MW). 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.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; emissions per US EPA GHGRP (measured for US EPA/EU ETS, modelled for Climate TRACE).
Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Veolia Energy Operating Service.
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 37.5°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 19% 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: 43/100 — 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 moderately corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C3 — Medium), 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 #570 largest coal power plant of 802 in United States of America by capacity.
United States of America has 802 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 621,194 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 37.4556, -77.4308 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Spruance Operating Services LLC is a 230 MW source-record coal power plant in Virginia, United States of America, commissioned in 1992.
Spruance Operating Services LLC generates about 16 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 4,628 homes.
Spruance Operating Services LLC is operated by Veolia Energy Operating Service.
Spruance Operating Services LLC has measured emissions of about 321,365 tonnes of CO₂ per year (US EPA GHGRP).
