Gas power plant in Rio Negro, Argentina. Approximate location -39.0872, -67.0881.
GasRio NegroArgentina
VILLA MARIA (LAS PLAYAS) is a 48 MW gas power plant in Rio Negro, Argentina. It is operated by EPEC. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 54k homes (estimated). It ranks #117 of 275 Argentina power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1971, it is around 55 years old — an older, legacy facility. In context, gas supplies about 52.7% of Argentina's electricity; the national grid averages 346 gCO₂/kWh (41.6% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id ARG0000109.
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: WRI Global Power Plant Database source-record (legacy); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 48 MW, VILLA MARIA (LAS PLAYAS) is below the median gas plant in Argentina (125 MW). Gas plants burn natural gas either in open-cycle turbines for fast peaking, or in combined-cycle units that recover exhaust heat in an HRSG to reach roughly 55–62% efficiency — the cleanest-burning fossil option.
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 EPEC. All plants by this company →
This gas plant burns natural gas in a turbine — often in a combined-cycle setup — to generate electricity. It sits in a cold semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSk) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 39.1°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 33% 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: 37/100 — this site sits in the mid third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
A gas turbine here also runs ~0% 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.
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 #75 largest gas power plant of 95 in Argentina by capacity.
Argentina has 95 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 22,760 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -39.0872, -67.0881 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
VILLA MARIA (LAS PLAYAS) is a 48 MW source-record gas power plant in Rio Negro, Argentina, commissioned in 1971.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 54,061 homes (estimated).
VILLA MARIA (LAS PLAYAS) is operated by EPEC.
