This article is one of the main where you could find responses to your question from Cities Skylines. Today I will respond to questions about power in CS.
Power tips for beginning
At the beginning of the new city, you could have just one wind turbine. When you need more power you could build more turbines. But when you have the money you want to build coal or oil plant. They generated more power for you.
In the beginning, you should use “budget sliders” and set 65% on electricity. You will get less power but you will have less upkeep. When you are in problems and you haven’t enough money to build a new power source you could go with a “budget slider” to 120% more aren’t efficient.
When you could you want to build solar plants or dams because these sources are green and don’t generate pollution. Less pollution on the map => bigger place to expand with the city.
How do I get power in Cities Skylines?
If you want power in Cities Skylines you must build some power sources. In Cities Skylines are these three power sources:
- Power plants this is the main source of your energy.
- A hydro dam (with turbines) is good for creating energy if you have money
- Garbage Disposal could help you with garbage.
In the early game, you build just “wind turbines” because they are cheap. When you play more time you could calculate with other power sources.
Optimization could help you with these two tables: cost of building MW by power source and cost of upkeep MW by the power source.
Cost of building MW by power source
| 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 |
| Solar Power Plant | 160 | 80 000 | 500 |
| Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Plant | 480 | 250 000 | 521 |
| Advanced Wind Turbine | 20 | 12 000 | 600 |
| Wave Power Plant | 20 | 14 000 | 700 |
| Wind Turbine | 8 | 6 000 | 750 |
| Geothermal Power Plant | 80 | 65 000 | 813 |
Cost of upkeep MW by power source
| Building | MW | Upkeep(₡/week) | Upkeep of MW (₡/week/MW) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fusion Power Plant | 16 000 | 8 000 | 0,50 |
| Solar Power Plant | 160 | 1 200 | 7,50 |
| Wave Power Plant | 20 | 160 | 8,00 |
| Solar Updraft Tower | 240 | 2 240 | 9,33 |
| Advanced Wind Turbine | 20 | 200 | 10,00 |
| Wind Turbine | 8 | 80 | 10,00 |
| Nuclear Power Plant | 640 | 8 000 | 12,50 |
| Geothermal Power Plant | 80 | 1 040 | 13,00 |
| Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Plant | 480 | 6 400 | 13,33 |
| Coal Power Plant | 40 | 560 | 14,00 |
| Oil Power Plant | 120 | 1 920 | 16,00 |
Production is greater than consumption but…
… mine citizens say that they haven’t enough power – what to do? This problem could be in every city but the solution is easy. When you play and build new power sources. Be sure that all the power plants and the city are connected.
Does distance matter in the accessibility of power?
In my game (vanilla and some DLCs) I’m sure that distance hasn’t mattered to the accessibility of power. So you could build one big “energy district” where you have all of your power plants. But when you play on reality you want to build a “new” small power district where you generate energy.
Is there a way to build power lines on roads?
In the vanilla game without mods, you can’t. But there is a mode Electric Roads Mod (YouTube) that could you help distribute power to your city. You must connect power plants with roads (wind turbines too) and after that, you have power in your city.
May I build unconnected power grids in Cities Skylines?
You could think and is valid, that is a good way to build two or three grids in the city and that could be more realistic I know. But you will have problems with overall stats.
Because you could see that you have production 500 MW and consumption 200 MW. So all should be working, no? But if you work with grids it could look like…
| Grid | Production | Consumption | Conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 300 MW | 50 MW | this grid haven’t problems |
| B | 100 MW | 125 MW | this grid will have problems |
| C | 100 MW | 25 MW | this grid haven’t problems |
… so as you see I have three grids and grid B has problems with electricity because have more consumption than production but overall you have enough production. So you want to connect all grids always.
Are in Cities Skylines any causalities that affect power grids?
Yes, there are some causalities which should be. When you connect grids to the city be sure that you connect the city directly. Optional is built near the last power lane park. If you connect the grid and city with “zone” and the building will be aboned or will fire then your city will be disconnected.
Make sure that you connect your city and power plants with two separate power lanes. Because there could be casualties like flooding or lightning strike to one power line and it will take some time to repair it.
Can nuclear power plants explode in Cities Skylines?
This part of nuclear power isn’t implemented by developers in Cities Skylines. So nuclear power plants can’t explode. At forums are some “voices” for implementation but I don’t think that this “feature” will be in the game. And If it comes I don’t know how can core meltdown because the source of water is unlimited in Cities Skylines and I think that you will have enough sources every time.
Do you have more questions about power in Cities Skylines?
Let me know and write me since this form and I will update this article.
