Van Eck is a 120 MW coal power station in Khomas, Namibia. It is operated by Namibia Power Corp Ltd [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 150k homes (estimated). It ranks #5 of 16 Namibia power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1972, it is around 54 years old — an older, legacy facility. In context, coal supplies about 2.4% of Namibia's electricity; the national grid averages 49 gCO₂/kWh (97.6% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1023134.
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 L100000103085); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
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 Namibia Power Corp Ltd [100%].
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a hot semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSh) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 22.5°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 83% 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: 20/100 — 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 benign, low-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C1 — Very low), with dust abrasion 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 #2 largest coal power plant of 2 in Namibia by capacity.
Namibia has 2 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 420 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -22.514, 17.0789 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Van Eck is a 120 MW source-record coal power plant in Khomas, Namibia, commissioned in 1972.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 150,171 homes (estimated).
Van Eck is operated by Namibia Power Corp Ltd [100%].
