Coal Power plant is basic power plant which you could build from start new city. Let’s take look on this type of power plant and how to use it correctly for your city expansions in early phases.
Informations about coal power plants
Coal Power Plant provides 40 MV of electricity when you set budget sliders to 50% then this power plant generate just 10 MV of electricity. Cost is ₡19,000 and maintenance cost is ₡560 per week. One biggest negative is that this plant provides heavy pollution…

… but in early phases of your city you must build “yellow industry” and this industry provides pollution too. So for me it’s ok to build this power plant. And when you get more power plant types you could shut down this power plant and use more clear energy sources.
From our article about FAQ Power in Cities Skylines we know that best price ₡ per MV has Fusion Power Plant in ₡63 per MV on output. Power plant has cost ₡475 per MV and it’s fifth on list of best price per MV.

Bellow are power plants which are better than Coal Power Plant. So when I need more electricity in later phases I’m using Solar Updraft Tower or Nuclear Power Plant.
Building | MW | Cost(₡) | Cost of MW (₡/MW) |
---|---|---|---|
Fusion Power Plant | 16 000 | 1 000 000 | 63 |
Nuclear Power Plant | 640 | 200 000 | 313 |
Solar Updraft Tower | 240 | 90 000 | 375 |
Oil Power Plant | 120 | 50 000 | 417 |
Coal Power Plant | 40 | 19 000 | 475 |
Not enough fuel in coal power plants
Coal power plant could have problems with not enough fuel. Because this power plant need transport coal for working properly. In mine cases I when I had problems with not enough fuel I had problems with traffic and trucks with coal can’t reach mine power plants fast…
… so best way to avoid this problem is build power plants near your highway. For me I’m trying to build this power plant near city entry. In latest phases when I need build this type of power plant I’m building special districts which is connected to mine resources industry or which is connected to highway in separate way.

You could see mine a short distance from highway.
So if these truck stuck in traffic jams and don’t reach power plants you could have problems with not enough fuel in your power plants. And if your power plants don’t have coal or oil they will don’t work which will lead to outages.

How to refill coal power plants?
There isn’t way to “refill” coal power plant for clicks. As I mention above there are coal trucks which goes to your city. You must create easiest ways to connect highway to your power plants.
In late phases when I playing with TM:PE traffic mod I’m building this special connection where I’m setting just trucks to create “shortcut” for truck which supply mine power plants.
