Waste power plant in Massachusetts, United States of America. Approximate location 42.447, -70.9804.
WasteMassachusettsUnited States of AmericaCO₂ modelled
Wheelabrator Saugus is a 54 MW waste power plant in Massachusetts, United States of America. It is operated by Wheelabrator Environmental Systems. Based on reported annual generation of 181 GWh, it can supply roughly 52k homes. It ranks #3612 of 10,938 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1985, it is around 41 years old — long-established. Its modelled annual emissions are 484,740 t CO₂/yr (Climate TRACE), equivalent to about 113k cars driven for a year. In context, the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0050880.
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 54 MW, Wheelabrator Saugus is well above the median waste plant in United States of America (7 MW). Waste-to-energy plants burn municipal solid waste to generate electricity and heat, cutting landfill volume while recovering energy from residual waste.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:
Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies; modelled emissions from Climate TRACE.
Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Wheelabrator Environmental Systems. All plants by this company →
This waste plant recovers energy by combusting municipal or industrial waste. It sits in a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 42.4°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 29% 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: 67/100 — this site sits in the top 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 a corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with humidity / wetness 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 #61 largest waste power plant of 551 in United States of America by capacity.
United States of America has 551 waste power plants in this dataset, together about 10,154 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 42.447, -70.9804 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Wheelabrator Saugus is a 54 MW source-record waste power plant in Massachusetts, United States of America, commissioned in 1985.
Wheelabrator Saugus generates about 181 GWh of electricity per year.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 51,657 homes.
Wheelabrator Saugus is operated by Wheelabrator Environmental Systems.
Wheelabrator Saugus has modelled emissions of about 484,740 tonnes of CO₂ per year (Climate TRACE).
