Oil power plant in Hawaii, United States of America. Approximate location 20.0252, -155.6955.
OilHawaiiUnited States of America
Waimea is a 8 MW oil power plant in Hawaii, United States of America. It is operated by Hawaii Electric Light Co Inc. Based on reported annual generation of 1 GWh, it can supply roughly 285 homes. It ranks #6176 of 10,938 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1971, it is around 55 years old — an older, legacy facility. In context, oil supplies about 0.7% of United States of America's electricity; the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0000768.
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: Wikidata P2109 nameplate capacity; fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 8 MW, Waimea is around the median oil plant in United States of America (7 MW). Oil-fired plants burn heavy fuel oil or diesel, usually as peaking or backup capacity on islands and grids without gas pipelines; high fuel cost keeps their utilisation low.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Hawaii Electric Light Co Inc.
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen Af) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 20.0°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 62% 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: 26/100 — 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 an aggressive, high-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C5 — Very high), with marine salt 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 #444 largest oil power plant of 902 in United States of America by capacity.
United States of America has 902 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 40,022 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 20.0252, -155.6955 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Waimea is a 8 MW source-record oil power plant in Hawaii, United States of America, commissioned in 1971.
Waimea generates about 1 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 285 homes.
Waimea is operated by Hawaii Electric Light Co Inc.
