Termoeléctrica de Cacia is a 12 MW biomass power plant in Aveiro, Portugal. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 17k homes (estimated). It ranks #160 of 480 Portugal power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2009, it is around 17 years old — relatively modern. Its annual emissions of 53,099 t CO₂/yr (EU ETS verified (EUTL 2023)) are equivalent to about 12k cars driven for a year. In context, biomass supplies about 6.8% of Portugal's electricity; the national grid averages 128 gCO₂/kWh (81.0% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1022515.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and fuel fields on this page are source-record values from the upstream open dataset. They are useful for identification and ranking, but they have not been upgraded to a 2026 registry/GEM-location verified value.
capacity: WRI Global Power Plant Database source-record (legacy); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 12 MW, Termoeléctrica de Cacia is around the median biomass plant in Portugal (12 MW). Biomass plants burn organic material such as wood, residues or waste-derived fuel to raise steam; they are dispatchable and counted as low-carbon where the feedstock is sustainably sourced.
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; emissions per EU ETS verified (EUTL 2023) (measured for US EPA/EU ETS, modelled for Climate TRACE).
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
This biomass plant burns organic material (wood, residues) to raise steam for a turbine. It sits in a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 40.7°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 49% 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: 30/100 — 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 corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with marine 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 #10 largest biomass power plant of 19 in Portugal by capacity.
Portugal has 19 biomass power plants in this dataset, together about 453 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 40.6852, -8.591 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Termoeléctrica de Cacia is a 12 MW source-record biomass power plant in Aveiro, Portugal, commissioned in 2009.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 17,207 homes (estimated).
Termoeléctrica de Cacia has measured emissions of about 53,099 tonnes of CO₂ per year (EU ETS verified (EUTL 2023)).
