The Coal Power plant is a basic power plant you can build at the beginning of a new city. Let’s take a look at this type of power plant and how to use it correctly for your city expansions in the early phases of the game.
Basics about coal power plants
Coal Power Plant provides 40 MV of electricity. If you set budget sliders to 50%, this plant will produce10 MV of electricity. Its cost is ₡19,000 and the maintenance cost is ₡560 per week. The biggest negative is that this plant causes severe pollution…
…however, keep in mind that in the initial stages of your city, you have to build “yellow industry”, which also causes pollution. So from my point of view, the construction of this plant is fine. And when you get more types of power plants, you can shut down that power plant and use cleaner sources of energy.
From our FAQ Power in Cities Skylines article, we know that has Fusion Power Plant has the best price of ₡ per MV in ₡63 per MV on output. The power is priced at ₡475 per MV and is fifth on the list of the best MV prices.
Power plants which are better than Coal Power Plant are presented below. So when I need more electricity in the later phases of the game, I use Solar Updraft Tower or Nuclear Power Plant.
| Building | MW | Cost(₡) | Cost of MW (₡/MW) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fusion Power Plant | 16 000 | 1 000 000 | 63 |
| Nuclear Power Plant | 640 | 200 000 | 313 |
| Solar Updraft Tower | 240 | 90 000 | 375 |
| Oil Power Plant | 120 | 50 000 | 417 |
| Coal Power Plant | 40 | 19 000 | 475 |
Fuel shortages in in Coal Power Plants
Coal Power Plants could have problems with fuel shortages. This is because these power plants need to transport coal to operate properly. In my experience, when I’ve had problems with fuel shortages, I’ve had problems with transportation, and trucks with coal can’t get to mining plants quickly…
… so the best way to avoid this problem is to build power plants close to your highway. I always try to build this power plant near the entrance to town. In the latter stages of the game, when I need to build this type of power plant, I usually build special districts that are connected to my resource industry or that are independently connected to the highway.
You can also see one of my trucks just off the highway.
So if those truck get stuck in traffic and don’t get to the power plants, you could have problems with fuel shortages at the power plants. And if your power plants don’t have coal or oil, they won’t work and it will lead to outages.
How to refill coal power plants?
There isn’t such a way to “refill” a coal power plant with a simple click. As I mentioned above, coal trucks are coming into your city. If you want to “refill”, you will have to make easier connections between highways and power plants.
In late stages of the game, when I play with TM:PE traffic mod, I build this special connection where I set up just trucks to create a “shortcut” for trucks that supply my power plants.
