Coal power plant in Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea. Approximate location 36.904, 126.233.
CoalChungcheongnam-doSouth KoreaCO₂ modelled
Taean is a 5,946 MW coal power station in Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea. It is operated by Korea Western Power. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 7.4 million homes (estimated). It ranks #4 of 216 South Korea power plants by installed capacity. Its modelled annual emissions are 29,026,000 t CO₂/yr (Climate TRACE), equivalent to about 6.8 million cars driven for a year. In context, coal supplies about 31.1% of South Korea's electricity; the national grid averages 417 gCO₂/kWh (40.0% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1000196.
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 5,946 MW for Taean power station, but it is not used as the public primary value until scope is verified (unit vs operating vs installed/project total).
Capacity claim grade: A3_MAJOR_REVIEW_SCOPE_STATUS - recommended action: manual_scope_status_check - confidence: low_until_scope_verified. 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 L100000103483); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 5,946 MW, Taean is well above the median coal plant in South Korea (400 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; modelled emissions from Climate TRACE.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Korea Western Power. All plants by this company →
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 36.9°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 13% above 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: 56/100 — 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 an aggressive, high-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C5 — Very high), with marine salt 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 #2 largest coal power plant of 34 in South Korea by capacity.
South Korea has 34 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 46,928 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 36.904, 126.233 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Taean is a 5,946 MW source-record coal power plant in Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 7,440,994 homes (estimated).
Taean is operated by Korea Western Power.
Taean has modelled emissions of about 29,026,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year (Climate TRACE).
