Home / North America / Cuba / Varadero Powerplant

Varadero Powerplant

Gas power plant in Matanzas, Cuba. Approximate location 23.0879, -81.2695.

GasMatanzasCuba

Varadero Powerplant is a 173 MW gas power station in Matanzas, Cuba. It is operated by Unión Eléctrica. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 194,847 homes (estimated). It ranks #11 of 14 Cuba power plants by installed capacity. In context, gas supplies about 13.6% of Cuba's electricity; the national grid averages 643 gCO₂/kWh (4.0% low-carbon) (2024).

173MW installed capacity
194,847homes powered (est.)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1002021.

~272,786 t CO₂/yr (estimated) — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

63,587passenger cars driven for a year
35,575homes' yearly energy use
4,546,440tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

Estimated, not measured: from installed capacity at a typical 45% load factor × a typical gas emission factor (~400 g CO₂/kWh, IPCC AR5 / US EIA). Actual emissions depend on plant efficiency and running hours.Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies.

Capacity vs largest gas plants in Cuba

Boca de Jaruco: 238 MW238Boca de Ja…Varadero Powerplant: 173 MW173Varadero P…

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by Unión Eléctrica. All plants by this company →

Local climate & thermal context

This gas plant burns natural gas in a turbine — often in a combined-cycle setup — to generate electricity. It sits in a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 23.1°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

25.3°Cannual mean temp
0heating degree-days (base 18°C)
2,684cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
31 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 22 °CJF: 23 °CFM: 24 °CMA: 25 °CAM: 26 °CMJ: 27 °CJJ: 28 °CJA: 28 °CAS: 27 °CSO: 26 °CON: 24 °CND: 23 °CD28 °C

Heating degree-days here run 100% 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: 13/100 — this site sits in the bottom 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.

A gas turbine here also runs ~7% below its ISO (15°C) rating at this annual mean (typical CCGT curve, 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.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #2 largest gas power plant of 2 in Cuba by capacity.

Cuba has 2 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 411 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 23.0879, -81.2695 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Built from open public data; no personal information. Operate this site? Request a correction or removal.