Estimating Power Plant Generation in the Global Power Plant Database

The document describes a methodology for estimating annual electricity generation of power plants when plant-level data are unavailable. The approach utilizes statistical regression and machine learning, incorporating plant-level characteristics (size and fuel type) and country-level data (average generation per megawatt of installed capacity). The author notes that fuel-specific models increase accuracy for wind, solar, and hydropower plants, while natural gas plant estimations show improvement but maintain high error rates, particularly for smaller facilities.

• The estimation methodology for the Global Power Plant Database employs a combination of statistical regression and machine learning techniques, utilizing variables such as plant size, fuel type, and country-specific average generation per megawatt of installed capacity.
• Fuel-specific models enhance the accuracy of generation estimates for wind, solar, and hydropower plants.
• While estimations for natural gas plants have improved, they still exhibit high error rates, especially in the case of smaller plants.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Estimating Power Plant Generation in the Global Power Plant Database. https://www.wri.org/research/estimating-power-plant-generation-global-power-plant-database

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Estimating Power Plant Generation in the Global Power Plant Database. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/estimating-power-plant-generation-global-power-plant-database.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Estimating Power Plant Generation in the Global Power Plant Database |url=https://www.wri.org/research/estimating-power-plant-generation-global-power-plant-database |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendestimating, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Estimating Power Plant Generation in the Global Power Plant Database}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/estimating-power-plant-generation-global-power-plant-database}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }