Gas power plant in Kabul, Afghanistan. Approximate location 34.561557, 69.294854.
GasKabulAfghanistanEngine
Tarakhil power station is a 105 MW gas power station in Kabul, Afghanistan. It is operated by United States Agency for International Development [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 118k homes (estimated). It ranks #4 of 17 Afghanistan power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2009, it is around 17 years old — relatively modern. In context, gas supplies about 0.0% of Afghanistan's electricity; the national grid averages 131 gCO₂/kWh (86.9% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GOGPT_tarakhil_afghan.
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 · L100000408996; fuel: GEM GOGPT
At 105 MW, Tarakhil power station is around the median gas plant in Afghanistan (100 MW). Technically it is described as Engine. Gas plants burn natural gas either in open-cycle turbines for fast peaking, or in combined-cycle units that recover exhaust heat in an HRSG to reach roughly 55–62% efficiency — the cleanest-burning fossil option.
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 United States Agency for International Development [100%].
This gas plant burns natural gas in a turbine — often in a combined-cycle setup — to generate electricity. It sits in a warm-summer Mediterranean continental climate (Köppen Dsb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 34.6°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 mild atmospheric environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C2 — Low), with thermal cycling 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 #3 largest gas power plant of 7 in Afghanistan by capacity.
Afghanistan has 7 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 4,216 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 34.561557, 69.294854 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Tarakhil power station is a 105 MW gas power plant in Kabul, Afghanistan, commissioned in 2009.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 118,260 homes (estimated).
Tarakhil power station is operated by United States Agency for International Development [100%].
