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Wheelabrator Millbury Facility

Waste power plant in Massachusetts, United States of America. Approximate location 42.2214, -71.7669.

WasteMassachusettsUnited States of AmericaCO₂ reported

Wheelabrator Millbury Facility is a 48 MW waste power plant in Massachusetts, United States of America. It is operated by Wheelabrator Environmental Systems. Based on reported annual generation of 310 GWh, it can supply roughly 88,685 homes. It ranks #2830 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1987, it is around 39 years old — long-established. Its measured emissions of 399,210 t CO₂/yr (Climate TRACE) are equivalent to about 93,056 cars driven for a year. In context, the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).

48MW installed capacity
310GWh reported / yr
88,685homes powered
399,210t CO₂ / yr (Climate TRACE)
1987commissioned (~39 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0050878.

399,210 t CO₂/yr — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

93,056passenger cars driven for a year
52,062homes' yearly energy use
6,653,500tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; emissions reported to Climate TRACE.

Reported generation trend

2013: 324 GWh20132014: 322 GWh20142015: 325 GWh20152016: 315 GWh20162017: 294 GWh20172018: 320 GWh20182019: 310 GWh2019325 GWh

Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by Wheelabrator Environmental Systems. All plants by this company →

Local climate & thermal context

This waste plant recovers energy by combusting municipal or industrial waste. It sits in a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 42.2°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

8.6°Cannual mean temp
3,599heating degree-days (base 18°C)
178cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
181 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: -4 °CJF: -4 °CFM: 1 °CMA: 7 °CAM: 13 °CMJ: 18 °CJJ: 21 °CJA: 21 °CAS: 16 °CSO: 10 °CON: 5 °CND: -1 °CD21 °C

Heating degree-days here run 46% above 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: 78/100 — this site sits in the top 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.

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 #67 largest waste power plant of 541 in United States of America by capacity.

United States of America has 541 waste power plants in this dataset, together about 9,768 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 42.2214, -71.7669 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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