Complete examination of power sources in SimCity 3000

Contributor/author(s): Richard Pouget

When examining the best possible power plant for your city there are many factors to consider. Most of the power plants all have their particular usefulness and a single city can use multiple sources to cover all the power demanding situations they will face.

Cost efficiency is a number that represents the overall power that you will get from a power plant throughout its life time (Life Span * Power Supplied / Cost).

Space Efficiency is the amount of power you get for every square the building fills. This is important if your city is tight for space (Power Supplied / Size). Also, another thing you must note is that if you use plants that produce less power you will need more. If you are using a polluting source of power, this means you will need many to power a city (in comparison to nuclear, microwave and fusion) and that means much more pollution.

Coal Power Plant:

Power Supplied - 6000 MW-h/Month. Cost to Build - $5000. Pollution Generated - Hazardous. Average Life Span - ~72 years. Size: 4x4, 16 squares. Time Acquired: 1900. Cost Efficiency - 86 MW-h/Month/$. Space Efficiency - 375 MW-h/Month/Square. Additional Notes - None.

Oil Power Plant:

Power Supplied - 7000 MW-h/Month. Cost to Build - $8500. Pollution Generated - Hazardous. Average Life Span - ~73 years. Size: 4x4, 16 squares. Time Acquired: 1900. Cost Efficiency - 60 MW-h/Month/$. Space Efficiency - 438 MW-h/Month/Square. Additional Notes - None.

Gas Power Plant:

Power Supplied - 3000 MW-h/Month. Cost to Build - $4500. Pollution Generated - Very High. Average Life Span - ~88 years. Size: 4x4, 16 squares. Time Acquired: 1955. Cost Efficiency - 59 MW-h/Month/$. Space Efficiency - 188 MW-h/Month/Square. Additional Notes - None.

Nuclear Power Plant:

Power Supplied - 16000 MW-h/Month. Cost to Build - $20000. Pollution Generated - Low. Average Life Span - ~59 years. Size: 4x4, 16 squares. Time Acquired: 1960. Cost Efficiency - 48 MW-h/Month/$. Space Efficiency - 1000 MW-h/Month/Square. Additional Notes - Reduces city aura and can meltdown.

Wind Mill:

Power Supplied - 200 MW-h/Month or less. Cost to Build - $250. Pollution Generated - None. Average Life Span - ~122 years. Size: 1x1, 1 square. Time Acquired: 1980. Cost Efficiency - 98 MW-h/Month/$ or less. Space Efficiency - 200 MW-h/Month/Square or less. Additional Notes - Requires very high elevation in order to receive 100% of potential power output.

Solar Power Plant:

Power Supplied - 5000 MW-h/Month. Cost to Build - $15000. Pollution Generated - None. Average Life Span - ~101 years. Size: 4x4, 16 squares. Time Acquired: 1985. Cost Efficiency - 34 MW-h/Month/$. Space Efficiency - 312 MW-h/Month/Square. Additional Notes - Can loose efficiency if the weather if cloudy.

Microwave Power Plant:

Power Supplied - 14000 MW-h/Month. Cost to Build - $30000. Pollution Generated - None. Average Life Span - ~81 years. Size: 4x4, 16 squares. Time Acquired: 2020. Cost Efficiency - 38 MW-h/Month/$. Space Efficiency - 875 MW-h/Month/Square. Additional Notes - A slight possibility of causing fires near by the plant.

Fusion Power Plant:

Power Supplied - 50000 MW-h/Month. Cost to Build - $50000. Pollution Generated - Low. Average Life Span - ~54 years. Size: 4x4, 16 squares. Time Acquired: 2050. Cost Efficiency - 54 MW-h/Month/$ Space Efficiency - 3125 MW-h/Month/Square Additional Notes - None.

Waste to Energy Incinerator:

Power Supplied - 5000 MW-h/Month Cost to Build - $25000 Pollution Generated - Very high. Average Life Span - ~67 years Size: 3x3, 9 squares. Time Acquired: 2000. Cost Efficiency - 13 MW-h/Month/$ Space Efficiency - 556 MW-h/Month/Square Additional Notes - Doubles as an efficient incinerator. Needs enough garbage to be at 100% power capacity.

Cost / Space Efficiency Comparison:

Type                    Cost          Space
----------------------- ------------- -----------
Coal Power Plant        86            375
Oil Power Plant         60            438
Gas Power Plant         59            188
Nuclear Power Plant     48            1000
Wind Mill               98 or less    200 or less
Solar Power Plant       34            312
Microwave Power Plant   38            875
Fusion Power Plant      54            3125
W. to E. Incinerator    13            556

So which is the best for you? You must first decide what your priorities are. Here are some general assessments that can help you out:

Coal Power Plant - This is the most cost efficient plant in the game (other than a wind mill with all its potential reached) but it is also one of the most hazardous when it comes to pollution. At the start of the game this is likely your best choice since the pollution from on plant won't be too significant and it is cheaper than all other choices. Unless you want to deal with the heavy pollution this plant will deal, it will be wise to switch to other non-polluting plants.

Oil Power Plant - Oil power plant is one of the two power plants I consider useless. It is much less cost effective than coal and doesn't pollute much less. Don't use this plant unless you have some kind of aesthetic need for it.

Gas Power Plant - Just like Oil Power Plants but worse. Do not use unless it serves some aesthetic purpose.

Nuclear Power Plants - This is a cost effective plant that doesn't pollute. If you are willing to sacrifice a little bit of city aura this is an excellent choice for powering your city, until fusion comes along at least. It you do not allow your plants to reach maximum capacity, allow aliens to blow it up and you save frequently, the meltdown is not a serious concern.

Wind Mills - Not very effective because they require a large amount of space to be useful. If you elevation isn't high enough they won't reach their maximum potential. However, many cities use wind mills for their aesthetic value and because they are convenient for powering areas that are two difficult to power with power lines.

Solar Power Plants - This power plants are expensive but produce absolutely no pollution and can be placed anywhere. They have absolutely no disadvantages except cost and a slightly low space efficiency. If you have lots of space and money, this is a good choice for a clean city.

Microwave Power Plants - This power plants are virtually larger editions of solar power plants; they don't pollute and are expensive. They are more cost and space efficient that solar power plants but they do have the slight possibility of causing fires. When you get them 35 years after solar power, solar power plants can be replaced by microwave in a clean and wealthy city.

Fusion Power Plants - In 2050 when you get this variety of power plants you may want to invest in a fusion power plant. They produce much more power than any power plant and are incredibly space efficient. They are also the most cost efficient of all non- polluting power plants. These are great to use if you have a large city with enough money to cough up.

Waste to Energy Incinerators - If you want to incinerate your garbage and you have a large amount of money, these are excellent investments to use in conjunction with other power sources (if needed). They consume more garbage than a normal incinerator and produce less pollution, while producing almost as much power as a coal power plant. So if you want to burn garbage and you have a large amount of money, invest in one of these. However, it's important to note, that if you have don't produce enough garbage to max this power plants capacity then they won't produce maximum potential power.

See also

• Power plant output and costs
• Actual cost efficiency of power plants