Oil power plant in Shetland Islands, United Kingdom. Approximate location 60.4649, -1.2793.
OilShetland IslandsUnited KingdomOCGT
Sullom Voe Terminal power station is a 100 MW oil power station in Shetland Islands, United Kingdom. It is operated by BP PLC [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 75k homes (estimated). It ranks #169 of 2,860 United Kingdom power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1978, it is around 48 years old — long-established. In context, oil supplies about 4.4% of United Kingdom's electricity; the national grid averages 217 gCO₂/kWh (64.4% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GOGPT_sullomvoeterminal_united.
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 · L100000408864; fuel: GEM GOGPT
At 100 MW, Sullom Voe Terminal power station is well above the median oil plant in United Kingdom (45 MW). Technically it is described as OCGT. Oil-fired plants burn heavy fuel oil or diesel, usually as peaking or backup capacity on islands and grids without gas pipelines; high fuel cost keeps their utilisation low.
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 BP PLC [100%].
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 60.5°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Climate zone & typical temperatures: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
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 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 #4 largest oil power plant of 14 in United Kingdom by capacity.
United Kingdom has 14 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 2,134 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 60.4649, -1.2793 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Sullom Voe Terminal power station is a 100 MW oil power plant in Shetland Islands, United Kingdom, commissioned in 1978.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 75,085 homes (estimated).
Sullom Voe Terminal power station is operated by BP PLC [100%].
