Velilla del Río Carrión power station is a 515.6 MW coal power station in Palencia, Spain. It is operated by Iberdrola SA [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 645k homes (estimated). It ranks #59 of 899 Spain power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1964, it is around 62 years old — an older, legacy facility. In context, coal supplies about 0.3% of Spain's electricity; the national grid averages 154 gCO₂/kWh (74.6% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GEM_coa_velilladelriocarrion_spain.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
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 515.6 MW, Velilla del Río Carrión power station is around the median coal plant in Spain (515.6 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 Iberdrola SA [100%].
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 42.8°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 corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with marine 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.
The #12 largest coal power plant of 24 in Spain by capacity.
Spain has 24 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 12,360 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 42.818529, -4.8547 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Velilla del Río Carrión power station is a 515.6 MW coal power plant in Palencia, Spain, commissioned in 1964.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 645,236 homes (estimated).
Velilla del Río Carrión power station is operated by Iberdrola SA [100%].
