Coal power plant in Boyaca, Colombia. Approximate location 5.7682, -73.1472.
CoalBoyacaColombiasubcritical
Termopaipa power station is a 343 MW coal power station in Boyaca, Colombia. It is operated by Empresa de Energía de Boyacá. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 429k homes (estimated). It ranks #19 of 44 Colombia power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1987, it is around 39 years old — long-established. In context, coal supplies about 6.1% of Colombia's electricity; the national grid averages 187 gCO₂/kWh (77.0% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1018584.
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 tracker 2026 operating-unit sum (location L100000101765); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 343 MW, Termopaipa power station is around the median coal plant in Colombia (335 MW). Technically it is described as subcritical. 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.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Empresa de Energía de Boyacá.
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 5.8°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 31% 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: 38/100 — 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 a moderately corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C3 — Medium), 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 coal power plant of 9 in Colombia by capacity.
Colombia has 9 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 3,578 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 5.7682, -73.1472 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Termopaipa power station is a 343 MW source-record coal power plant in Boyaca, Colombia, commissioned in 1987.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 429,240 homes (estimated).
Termopaipa power station is operated by Empresa de Energía de Boyacá.
