You're not factoring in the wage cost. Building a small coal plant and letting it hire all 37 employees gives me a wage cost of $66,300 which is in addition to the $45,000 maintenance cost, for a total of $111,300 per month. I don't know how to get coal expenditures under the max $40,000 because even with a coal mine literally next door exporting tons of coal outside the city, my plant still seems to pay max costs.Trying to math the maths here ... I may be misunderstanding something ...
As I read this, therefore, initial costs are exactly the same.
- The wind turbines produce up to 5 MW assuming you place them appropriately, while the small coal power plant initially produces 20 MW--so you have to place four wind turbines in order to equal what you get from a single coal power plant
- The wind turbines initially cost 25,000 ea while the small coal power plant costs 100,000.
Regarding upkeep ...
Theoretically, the wind turbines start out with an upkeep 2-2/3ds more than the small coal power plant--although over time, their upkeep costs remain static while the coal plant will likely increase.
- Wind turbines cost 2,500 EA per month in upkeep, while the small coal power plant costs 3,750-42,500.
- I never place the coal power plant, so I don't know what causes that cost to be variable, but I assume it has something to do with import costs of coal, whether you place any additional turbines or other modules, wages for employees, and where you set your energy budget.
initial upkeep energy produced wind turbine 25,000 * 4 = 100,000 2,500 * 4 = 10,000 5 MW * 4 = 20 MW small coal power plant 100,000 3,750-42,500 (variable) 20 MW
In the meantime, a fully upgraded wind turbine costs $12,500 per month and generates between 8 - 9 MW of power during the day, or around 7.5 MW at night if placed in an optimal wind location.
The wind turbine costs $25,000 to build and all three upgrades are an additional $50,000, so if you build three fully upgraded turbines (battery optional but including it anyway), you pay more upfront: $225K vs $100K (the small coal plant has no upgrades), but you save $73,800 in monthly costs so it's a better deal after just two months and get more power out of it. Plus wind turbines don't need road access. It might be even cheaper with four un-upgraded wind turbines, but that takes more space and your max wind availability is variable.
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