Santa Cruz
2022
240
 MW
1.2
 MT/y

Río Turbio power station

Profitable?
No
 
Profitable?
Yes
 
Annual CO2 emissions saved
1.2
MT / year
Total W-S-B investment need
0.345
Bn. $

Investment breakdown

This power plant can be profitably converted to S-W-B with a $0.345 Bn total investment.
This power plant can be converted to S-W-B with a $0.345 Bn total investment.

Solar
48
M. $
Wind
269
M. $
Battery
28,363
M. $

Production costs

5.2
ct/kWh
Production cost of coal (Source: IEA World Energy Outlook 2022; adjusted)
2.55
ct/kWh
Production cost of renewable energy

Technical breakdown

Renewables installed capacity

Solar
73
MW
Wind
232
MW
Battery
25
MWh

Renewable energy production

Share of Solar-Wind to match current coal production
6.6
%
93.4
%
Solar
Wind

Renewables area

Total area required for Wind-Solar mix*: 8.29 km²
*On sites with a high wind fraction, wind need = total need. Solar panels are placed within the area occupied by wind infrastructure.
0.59
km²
8.29
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
1257
kwh/kwp
Mean wind speed
15
m/s

Impact

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