Oil power plant in Al Madinah al Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia. Approximate location 23.86, 38.383.
OilAl Madinah al MunawwarahSaudi ArabiaSteam
YANBU (SWCC) is a 520 MW oil power station in Al Madinah al Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia. It is operated by Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC). Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 390k homes (estimated). It ranks #70 of 156 Saudi Arabia power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1998, it is around 28 years old — long-established. In context, oil supplies about 34.5% of Saudi Arabia's electricity; the national grid averages 692 gCO₂/kWh (2.2% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1030723.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The public capacity above is the current source-record value. A 2026 tracker candidate lists 150 MW for Yanbu 2 SWCC power plant, but it is not used as the public primary value until scope is verified (unit vs operating vs installed/project total).
Capacity claim grade: D_REJECT_KEEP_MASTER - recommended action: keep_master - confidence: rejected_candidate. This follows a claim-based data model: value + scope + source + confidence, rather than silently overwriting records.
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 520 MW, YANBU (SWCC) is well above the median oil plant in Saudi Arabia (365 MW). Technically it is described as Steam. 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.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC). All plants by this company →
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 23.9°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
This site has effectively no heating season (tropical/equatorial climate), so winter heat loss is not the driver here. The thermal concern shifts to year-round process heat and humidity/heat-driven corrosion of hot equipment.
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 #35 largest oil power plant of 76 in Saudi Arabia by capacity.
Saudi Arabia has 76 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 61,625 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 23.86, 38.383 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
YANBU (SWCC) is a 520 MW source-record oil power plant in Al Madinah al Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia, commissioned in 1998.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 390,295 homes (estimated).
YANBU (SWCC) is operated by Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC).
