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Sua Pan Soda Ash

Coal power plant in North East, Botswana. Approximate location -21.1667, 27.5167.

CoalNorth EastBotswana

Sua Pan Soda Ash is a 14 MW coal power plant in North East, Botswana. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 17,520 homes (estimated). It ranks #2 of 2 Botswana power plants by installed capacity. In context, coal supplies about 98.3% of Botswana's electricity; the national grid averages 851 gCO₂/kWh (0.3% low-carbon) (2024).

14MW installed capacity
17,520homes powered (est.)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1023018.

~61,320 t CO₂/yr (estimated) — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

14,294passenger cars driven for a year
7,997homes' yearly energy use
1,022,000tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

Estimated, not measured: from installed capacity at a typical 50% load factor × a typical coal emission factor (~1000 g CO₂/kWh, IPCC AR5 / US EIA). Actual emissions depend on plant efficiency and running hours.Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies.

Capacity vs largest coal plants in Botswana

Morpule: 732 MW732MorpuleSua Pan Soda Ash: 14 MW14Sua Pan So…

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Local climate & thermal context

This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a hot semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSh) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 21.2°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

21.4°Cannual mean temp
180heating degree-days (base 18°C)
1,413cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
978 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 25 °CJF: 24 °CFM: 24 °CMA: 21 °CAM: 18 °CMJ: 15 °CJJ: 15 °CJA: 18 °CAS: 22 °CSO: 24 °CON: 25 °CND: 25 °CD25 °C

Heating degree-days here run 93% 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: 16/100 — this site sits in the bottom third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.

In colder climates, uninsulated hot equipment (boilers, turbines, valves, steam lines) loses proportionally more heat to ambient air — exactly the loss Inzonex modular insulation is designed to cut.

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.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #2 largest coal power plant of 2 in Botswana by capacity.

Botswana has 2 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 746 MW of capacity.

Location

Coordinates -21.1667, 27.5167 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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