Vales is a 3 MW hydro power plant in Vila Real, Portugal. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 3,203 homes (estimated). It ranks #323 of 469 Portugal power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2009, it is around 17 years old — relatively modern. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, hydro supplies about 29.7% 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 WRI1022814.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 41.4°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 19% 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: 43/100 — this site sits in the mid third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
In colder climates, uninsulated hot equipment (boilers, turbines, valves, steam lines) loses proportionally more heat to ambient air — exactly the loss Inzonex modular insulation is designed to cut.
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.
The #76 largest hydro power plant of 122 in Portugal by capacity.
Portugal has 122 hydro power plants in this dataset, together about 2,760 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 41.4419, -7.4985 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
