Gansu
2020
4000
 MW
15.6
 MT/y

Guazhou Changle power station

Profitable?
No
 
Profitable?
Yes
 
Annual CO2 emissions saved
15.6
MT / year
Total W-S-B investment need
5.373
Bn. $

Investment breakdown

This power plant can be profitably converted to S-W-B with a $5.373 Bn total investment.
This power plant can be converted to S-W-B with a $5.373 Bn total investment.

Solar
2,636
M. $
Wind
2,423
M. $
Battery
313,558
M. $

Production costs

5.2
ct/kWh
Production cost of coal (Source: IEA World Energy Outlook 2022; adjusted)
3.04
ct/kWh
Production cost of renewable energy

Technical breakdown

Renewables installed capacity

Solar
4055
MW
Wind
2089
MW
Battery
275
MWh

Renewable energy production

Share of Solar-Wind to match current coal production
44.5
%
55.5
%
Solar
Wind

Renewables area

Total area required for Wind-Solar mix*: 74.61 km²
*On sites with a high wind fraction, wind need = total need. Solar panels are placed within the area occupied by wind infrastructure.
32.44
km²
74.61
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:
Solar efficiency rate
1695
kwh/kwp
Mean wind speed
10
m/s

Impact

90%
of the world’s coal power plants can be profitably replaced by  wind-solar-battery plants.