Oil power plant in Mintaqat Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Approximate location 28.47, 36.519.
OilMintaqat TabukSaudi ArabiaOCGT
TABUK-1 is a 102 MW oil power station in Mintaqat Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. It is operated by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC). Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 77k homes (estimated). It ranks #131 of 156 Saudi Arabia power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1982, it is around 44 years old — long-established. In context, oil supplies about 34.5% of Saudi Arabia's electricity; the national grid averages 692 gCO₂/kWh (2.2% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1030712.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The public capacity above is the current source-record value. A 2026 tracker candidate lists 295 MW for Tabuk 1 power plant, but it is not used as the public primary value until scope is verified (unit vs operating vs installed/project total).
Capacity claim grade: C_REVIEW_MANUAL - recommended action: manual_review_only - confidence: unknown. This follows a claim-based data model: value + scope + source + confidence, rather than silently overwriting records.
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 L100000409025); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 102 MW, TABUK-1 is below the median oil plant in Saudi Arabia (365 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 Saudi Electricity Company (SEC). All plants by this company →
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 28.5°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 74% 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: 22/100 — this site sits in the bottom 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 benign, low-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C1 — Very low), with dust abrasion 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 #61 largest oil power plant of 76 in Saudi Arabia by capacity.
Saudi Arabia has 76 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 61,625 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 28.47, 36.519 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
TABUK-1 is a 102 MW source-record oil power plant in Mintaqat Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, commissioned in 1982.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 76,587 homes (estimated).
TABUK-1 is operated by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).
