Power plants, storage and grid

Generation

Some power plants burn fuel. Others run on wind, sunlight, a river or heat from the ground.

The prices below are list prices. In the game a price falls as you build more of the same kind, and the ground you build on adds to it. Which plants run, and when, is explained in how the power grid simulation works.

Wood-Fired Steam Plant

A basic biomass plant you can build with local materials. It uses more fuel per MWh than later plants. All wood plants share a limited regional supply of forest and farm residues.

Capacity

18 MW

Fuel

Biomass

Efficiency

22%

List price

$26 million

Build time

8 months

Lifetime

30 years

Unlocked by

Available from the start

Coal Power Station

A coal plant with low operating costs, high emissions and slow output changes. Requires water for cooling.

Capacity

60 MW

Fuel

Coal

Efficiency

31%

List price

$74 million

Build time

1.7 years

Lifetime

40 years

Unlocked by

Steam Plant Works

Supercritical Coal Plant

Higher steam temperatures reduce fuel use and CO₂ emissions by about a third per MWh. Rising carbon charges increase its operating cost.

Capacity

120 MW

Fuel

Coal

Efficiency

45%

List price

$124 million

Build time

2.8 years

Lifetime

45 years

Unlocked by

High-Pressure Boiler Works

Open-Cycle Gas Turbine

A gas turbine that reaches full output in minutes. It uses more fuel per MWh than a combined-cycle plant, but can cover sudden shortages.

Capacity

55 MW

Fuel

Natural Gas

Efficiency

36%

List price

$34 million

Build time

8 months

Lifetime

30 years

Unlocked by

Turbomachinery Works

Combined-Cycle Gas Plant

Gas turbine exhaust raises steam for a second turbine. The most efficient thermal machine you can build, and flexible enough to follow the residual load.

Capacity

100 MW

Fuel

Natural Gas

Efficiency

59%

List price

$75 million

Build time

2 years

Lifetime

35 years

Unlocked by

Combined-Cycle Integration

Small Modular Reactor

A nuclear reactor with a five-year build time, high construction cost and low fuel costs. Provides carbon-free power for sixty years. Its minimum output is half its rating, so plan storage or flexible generation around it.

Capacity

60 MW

Fuel

Uranium

Efficiency

34%

List price

$300 million

Build time

5 years

Lifetime

60 years

Unlocked by

Nuclear Programme

Hydrogen Turbine

Generates electricity from hydrogen without carbon emissions. Uses stored hydrogen first, then buys any shortfall unless operating policy forbids it. Hydrogen is expensive, so compare its fuel cost with gas and carbon charges.

Capacity

80 MW

Fuel

Hydrogen

Efficiency

40%

List price

$62 million

Build time

1 year

Lifetime

30 years

Unlocked by

Hydrogen Turbines

Hydroelectric Dam

A dam across a river. The reservoir behind it holds about a week of full output, so the plant can run at full power through the evening peak and keep its water when power is cheap. It fills through spring and summer and is drawn down over autumn and winter. The river decides how much it makes in a year. Suitable sites are limited; the plant lasts eighty years.

Capacity

25 MW

Reservoir

7 days at full output

Runs on

River water

List price

$72 million

Build time

2.5 years

Lifetime

80 years

Unlocked by

Hydropower Works

Wind Turbine

One 6 MW machine on one tile. Build a farm by planting several. The tool stays armed, so you can pick the best ground turbine by turbine. Output scales with the cube of wind speed, so check the wind overlay before you site anything.

Capacity

6 MW

Runs on

Wind

List price

$9.4 million

Build time

6 months

Lifetime

25 years

Unlocked by

Wind-Turbine Manufacturing

Offshore Wind Turbine

A single 15 MW machine standing in open water. Steadier, stronger wind than any land site can offer, at three times the capital cost per megawatt, and every one needs an export cable back to shore.

Capacity

15 MW

Runs on

Wind

List price

$51 million

Build time

1.5 years

Lifetime

27 years

Unlocked by

Offshore Construction

Solar Park

Cheap, fast to build, and no use at all at 7pm in January. Pairs with storage.

Capacity

45 MW

Runs on

Sunlight

List price

$42 million

Build time

6 months

Lifetime

30 years

Unlocked by

Photovoltaic Manufacturing

Geothermal Plant

Provides steady, carbon-free power regardless of weather. Site quality limits output, and nearby plants compete for the same geothermal resource.

Capacity

52 MW

Runs on

Heat from the ground

List price

$190 million

Build time

2.2 years

Lifetime

40 years

Unlocked by

Geothermal Development

Waste-to-Energy Plant

The city pays you to take its rubbish, so the fuel price is negative. Regional waste supply is finite and shared by every waste plant: extra furnaces cannot burn refuse that does not exist.

Capacity

22 MW

Fuel

Waste

Efficiency

28%

List price

$140 million

Build time

1.7 years

Lifetime

35 years

Unlocked by

Municipal Waste Systems

Storage

Storage takes power when there is too much and gives it back when there is too little.

Grid Battery

Stores three hours of power and takes four months to build. Charges during surplus supply and discharges when needed. Capacity declines with age and use.

Capacity

40 MW

Storage

120 MWh

Round trip

88%

List price

$44 million

Build time

4 months

Lifetime

15 years

Unlocked by

Battery Manufacturing

Long-Duration Battery

Stores ten hours of power in electrolyte tanks. Holds twice the energy of a lithium pack for 1.5 times the price and lasts 25 years instead of 15. Cycling costs about $2/MWh versus $18/MWh for lithium, but only 60% of charging energy returns as electricity. It charges during low-demand hours and surplus supply.

Capacity

25 MW

Storage

250 MWh

Round trip

60%

List price

$68 million

Build time

10 months

Lifetime

25 years

Unlocked by

Long-Duration Batteries

Electrolyser Plant

Turns surplus power into hydrogen. It only charges: a Hydrogen Turbine is what makes electricity again, and a tank farm or a cavern is what holds more than a day of it. Safety limits stop it running below 15% of its rating. Offered less than 9 MW it stays off and the surplus is curtailed instead. Operating policy sets when it may draw.

Capacity

60 MW

Storage

600 MWhth

Power to hydrogen

72%

List price

$96 million

Build time

1.2 years

Lifetime

25 years

Unlocked by

Hydrogen Production & Storage

Hydrogen Tank Farm

High-pressure tanks for hydrogen storage. Build anywhere in six months. A cavern holds thirteen times more for less money but takes two and a half years to build. Use a Hydrogen Turbine to generate electricity from the stored fuel.

Storage

900 MWhth

List price

$78 million

Build time

6 months

Lifetime

30 years

Unlocked by

Hydrogen Production & Storage

Salt Cavern Store

Stores hydrogen underground with very low leakage. Takes two and a half years to build. Use an Electrolyser Plant to produce hydrogen and a Hydrogen Turbine to turn it back into electricity.

Storage

12,000 MWhth

List price

$130 million

Build time

2.5 years

Lifetime

50 years

Unlocked by

Hydrogen Production & Storage

Carbon capture and synthetic gas

Two machines that use power instead of making it.

Direct Air Capture Array

Fan walls pull air across amine sorbent; a regeneration hall strips the CO₂ and pumps it into basalt for good. Draws up to 30 MW and removes about fifteen tonnes an hour at full draw. Set it to run around the clock, in the cheap hours, or only on spare power. Captured carbon nets off the carbon bill, so under a real carbon price a clean grid can run its emissions negative.

Load

30 MW

List price

$260 million

Build time

1.7 years

Lifetime

30 years

Unlocked by

Carbon Capture Works

Methanation Plant

Makes methane your existing gas plants can burn without modification. Its carbon came out of the air, and hydrogen carries none, so burning it adds nothing. It is also the most expensive energy in the game: 1.25 MWh of hydrogen, which took nearly 2 MWh of electricity, makes 1 MWh of gas that a turbine turns back into 0.6. It is the only way a gas fleet reaches zero emissions.

Load

6 MW

List price

$118 million

Build time

2 years

Lifetime

30 years

Unlocked by

Synthetic Methane

Network

Lines carry the power and substations step it between voltages: 380 kV over long distances, 110 kV across the colony, 20 kV into the towns and 400 V to the streets.

20/0.4 kV Local Substation

A packaged 20/0.4 kV kiosk on its own small plot among the streets, the same unit every quarter is founded with. Towns lay out new streets on their own, and those streets stay empty until a station reaches them. Put one at the edge, run 20 kV to it, and the waiting blocks develop. Streets can be reassigned between stations later.

Steps

20 kV ↔ 400 V

400 V capacity

6 MW

List price

$1.9 million

Build time

4 months

Lifetime

40 years

Unlocked by

Available from the start

20 kV Feeder

Medium-voltage feeder cable. Runs from the substation out to district feed points. Overload one and the protection trips the whole feeder.

Voltage

20 kV

Rating

14 MW

List price

$260,000 per km

Lifetime

40 years

Unlocked by

Available from the start

20 kV Double Feeder

Two circuits down one trench. Double the capacity of a plain feeder for less than double the cost, the usual answer when a district outgrows its connection.

Voltage

20 kV

Rating

28 MW

List price

$440,000 per km

Lifetime

40 years

Unlocked by

Grid Construction

20 kV Quad Feeder

Four cables in one trench, as many as will share the ground before they start warming each other. Four times a plain feeder, and it draws load off the feeders around it as well as carrying more of its own.

Voltage

20 kV

Rating

56 MW

List price

$720,000 per km

Lifetime

40 years

Unlocked by

Heavy Corridors

110/20 kV Substation

Converts 110 kV to 20 kV for local distribution. Adds capacity and supply points when a town outgrows its starting substation.

Steps

110 kV ↔ 20 kV

Throughput limit

40 MW

List price

$4.2 million

Build time

10 months

Lifetime

45 years

Unlocked by

Available from the start

110/20 kV Main Substation

Provides 2.5 times the throughput of the standard substation to support larger towns and electric heating.

Steps

110 kV ↔ 20 kV

Throughput limit

100 MW

List price

$9 million

Build time

1.2 years

Lifetime

45 years

Unlocked by

Grid Construction

110 kV Line

Your starting transmission line. Costs less per kilometre than 380 kV, but loses about four times as much power over the same distance and has less capacity.

Voltage

110 kV

Rating

80 MW

List price

$420,000 per km

Lifetime

50 years

Unlocked by

Available from the start

110 kV Double Circuit

Two circuits on the same towers double capacity and reduce losses for about two-thirds more cost. Damage to the route can still take out both circuits.

Voltage

110 kV

Rating

160 MW

List price

$700,000 per km

Lifetime

50 years

Unlocked by

Grid Construction

110 kV Quad Circuit

Four circuits on one heavy tower line, the most a single right of way will take. Four times a plain circuit’s capacity, and a quarter of its reactance, so it also draws load off the routes beside it. Past this a corridor needs new ground or a higher voltage.

Voltage

110 kV

Rating

320 MW

List price

$1.15 million per km

Lifetime

50 years

Unlocked by

Heavy Corridors

380/110 kV Substation

Connects 380 kV and 110 kV networks in both directions. The transformer has its own capacity limit. A 380 kV route loses about one ninth as much power as a 110 kV route carrying the same load.

Steps

380 kV ↔ 110 kV

Throughput limit

300 MW

List price

$26 million

Build time

1.2 years

Lifetime

50 years

Unlocked by

Extra-High-Voltage Equipment

380/110 kV Grid Node

Two transformer banks provide twice the throughput of a standard substation. One bank can keep the site supplied during an overhaul of the other.

Steps

380 kV ↔ 110 kV

Throughput limit

600 MW

List price

$40 million

Build time

1.7 years

Lifetime

50 years

Unlocked by

Extra-High-Voltage Equipment

380 kV Overhead Line

A high-capacity transmission line with low losses per kilometre. Connects distant generation to towns.

Voltage

380 kV

Rating

1800 MW

List price

$1.15 million per km

Lifetime

60 years

Unlocked by

Extra-High-Voltage Equipment