West Virginia
1980
1300
 MW
6.3
 MT/y

Mountaineer Plant

Profitable?
No
 
Profitable?
Yes
 
Annual CO2 emissions saved
6.3
MT / year
Total W-S-B investment need
3.546
Bn. $

Investment breakdown

This power plant can be profitably converted to S-W-B with a $3.546 Bn total investment.
This power plant can be converted to S-W-B with a $3.546 Bn total investment.

Solar
1,548
M. $
Wind
1,849
M. $
Battery
148,906
M. $

Production costs

5.2
ct/kWh
Production cost of coal (Source: IEA World Energy Outlook 2022; adjusted)
3.85
ct/kWh
Production cost of renewable energy

Technical breakdown

Renewables installed capacity

Solar
2382
MW
Wind
1340
MW
Battery
131
MWh

Renewable energy production

Share of Solar-Wind to match current coal production
44.3
%
55.7
%
Solar
Wind

Renewables area

Total area required for Wind-Solar mix*: 47.85 km²
*On sites with a high wind fraction, wind need = total need. Solar panels are placed within the area occupied by wind infrastructure.
19.05
km²
47.85
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
1366
kwh/kwp
Mean wind speed
7
m/s

Impact

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