North Rhine-Westphalia
1989
500
 MW
2.4
 MT/y

Herne power station

Profitable?
No
 
Profitable?
Yes
 
Annual CO2 emissions saved
2.4
MT / year
Total W-S-B investment need
1.318
Bn. $

Investment breakdown

This power plant can be profitably converted to S-W-B with a $1.318 Bn total investment.
This power plant can be converted to S-W-B with a $1.318 Bn total investment.

Solar
279
M. $
Wind
982
M. $
Battery
56,726
M. $

Production costs

13.5
ct/kWh
Production cost of coal (Source: IEA World Energy Outlook 2022; adjusted)
4.26
ct/kWh
Production cost of renewable energy

Technical breakdown

Renewables installed capacity

Solar
429
MW
Wind
618
MW
Battery
50
MWh

Renewable energy production

Share of Solar-Wind to match current coal production
15.8
%
84.2
%
Solar
Wind

Renewables area

Total area required for Wind-Solar mix*: 22.07 km²
*On sites with a high wind fraction, wind need = total need. Solar panels are placed within the area occupied by wind infrastructure.
3.43
km²
22.07
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
1027
kwh/kwp
Mean wind speed
9
m/s

Impact

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