Coal power plant in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Approximate location 49.51333, 72.79861.
CoalKaragandaKazakhstansubcritical
Topar power station is a 1,179 MW coal power station in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. It is operated by Topar GRES-2 LLP [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 1.5 million homes (estimated). It ranks #10 of 80 Kazakhstan power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1962, it is around 64 years old — an older, legacy facility. In context, coal supplies about 54.3% of Kazakhstan's electricity; the national grid averages 805 gCO₂/kWh (14.9% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GEM_coa_topar_kazak.
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 773 MW for Topar power station, but it is not used as the public primary value until scope is verified (unit vs operating vs installed/project total).
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: GEM GCPT; fuel: GEM GCPT
At 1,179 MW, Topar power station is well above the median coal plant in Kazakhstan (435 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 Topar GRES-2 LLP [100%].
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 49.5°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 #6 largest coal power plant of 32 in Kazakhstan by capacity.
Kazakhstan has 32 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 20,941 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 49.51333, 72.79861 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Topar power station is a 1,179 MW coal power plant in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, commissioned in 1962.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 1,475,434 homes (estimated).
Topar power station is operated by Topar GRES-2 LLP [100%].
