Drax power station

England

1985

1402

MW

7.0

MT/y

Drax power station

Profitable?

No

Profitable?

Yes

Annual CO2 emissions saved

7.0

MT / year

Total W-S-B investment need

3.432

Bn. $

Investment breakdown

Investment Sum

This power plant can be profitably converted to S-W-B with a $3.432 Bn total investment.

This power plant can be converted to S-W-B with a $3.432 Bn total investment.

Solar

611

M. $

Wind

2,656

M. $

Battery

165,451

M. $

Production costs

5.2

ct/kWh

Production cost of coal (Source: IEA World Energy Outlook 2022; adjusted)

3.94

ct/kWh

Production cost of renewable energy

Technical breakdown

Renewables installed capacity

Solar

940

MW

Wind

1670

MW

Battery

145

MWh

Renewable energy production

Share of Solar-Wind to match current coal production

11.1

%

88.9

%

Solar

Wind

Renewables area

Total area required for Wind-Solar mix*: 59.66 km²

*On sites with a high wind fraction, wind need = total need. Solar panels are placed within the area occupied by wind infrastructure.

7.52

km²

59.66

km²

Area use solar

Area use wind

Environmental conditions

Key environmental conditions around coal plant site (10,000 km2)

These are input values for the SwitchCoal model taken from the following reliable sources:

www.globalwindatlas.info | www.globalsolaratlas.info

Solar efficiency rate

965

kwh/kwp

Mean wind speed

11

m/s

Impact

90%

of the world’s coal power plants can be profitably replaced by wind-solar-battery plants.

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