Solar power plant in French Guiana, French Guiana. Approximate location 4.8937, -52.5007.
SolarFrench GuianaFrench GuianaPV
Toucan is a 5 MW solar power plant in French Guiana, French Guiana. It is operated by EDF Renewables [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 2.1k homes (estimated). It ranks #5 of 6 French Guiana power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2014, it is around 12 years old — relatively modern. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, solar supplies about 6.1% of French Guiana's electricity; the national grid averages 245 gCO₂/kWh (65.3% low-carbon) (2023).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WKS0065694.
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 (location L100000808289); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
Technically it is described as PV. Solar PV converts sunlight directly into electricity with no moving parts or fuel; output varies by time of day and weather, so it pairs with storage or flexible backup.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Operated by EDF Renewables [100%].
This solar plant converts sunlight directly into electricity with photovoltaic panels. It sits in a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen Af) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 4.9°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
This site has effectively no heating season (tropical/equatorial climate), so winter heat loss is not the driver here. The thermal concern shifts to year-round process heat and humidity/heat-driven corrosion of hot equipment.
Solar PV loses ~0.35%/°C above 25°C cell temperature — roughly 0.5% at warm-season highs here (estimate).
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.
French Guiana has 1 solar power plant in this dataset, together about 5 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 4.8937, -52.5007 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Toucan is a 5 MW source-record solar power plant in French Guiana, French Guiana, commissioned in 2014.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 2,127 homes (estimated).
Toucan is operated by EDF Renewables [100%].
