Coal Power Plant jumps between producing 10 MW and 40 MW

[Baden]

Why is my Coal Power Plant jumping between producing only 10 MW and 40 MW? All guides say it produces 40 MW, with no mentions of exceptions. Also, my budget for daytime electricity production is 100 %, and nighttime 50 % (which should be 20 MW at night?). This is the default setting.
Even at only 10, it claims it operates normally, and it got plenty of fuel (coal stored for 70 weeks...)
Anyone experienced the same or know why my plant is operating like that?
http://i.imgur.com/zDBOgbJ.jpg

Addition: Looks like my Wind Turbines are acting exactly the same, producing either 2 MW or 8 MW each (they're placed at a 8 MW wind optimal spot).
Haven't tried with other electricity production types yet.

[AngerIsAnEnergy]

I dont know why the coal plant is acting like it is, but the wind turbines are not static output, they vary with the wind speed. At max speed you'll get 8MW, other times you'll get less output as the wind speed drops. But I've never seen the wind turbines outputting 2MW, least I've seen is 5MW, I think.

Maybe you have a mod affecting the electricity production?!?

[Slye_Fox]

Originally posted by AngerIsAnEnergy:

At max speed you'll get 8MW

Max output of the basic wind turbine is 10/MW.

[Poofz_]

There's gotta be some service thats going on and off covering your power plants. 25% production is the rate when the building is operating at a reduced rate, but you said it was operating normally and now I'm really confused.

[Baden]

Originally posted by AngerIsAnEnergy:

I dont know why the coal plant is acting like it is, but the wind turbines are not static output, they vary with the wind speed. At max speed you'll get 8MW, other times you'll get less output as the wind speed drops. But I've never seen the wind turbines outputting 2MW, least I've seen is 5MW, I think.

I'm not experiencing any dynamic output from the Wind Turbines (or the Coal Power Plant) at all. It is either static 8 MW or 2 MW. I haven't read anywhere they're supposed to fluctuate depending on the wind speed. Of course, if you place them in a less optimal spot with less (STATIC) wind speed, they will have a lower max static MW output.

Originally posted by AngerIsAnEnergy:

Maybe you have a mod affecting the electricity production?!?

I recently installed a bunch of mods, and I'm not completely sure if they affect my electricity production. If so, I definitely did not intend to have them for that reason.

List of my mods: 81 Tiles (Fixed for 1.2+), Network Extensions 2, Extended Road Upgrade, Extended Building Information, Precision Engineering, Automatic Bulldoze, Traffic Manager: President Edition, Traffic Report Mod: Updated
Also, currently using an unofficial map named "Beech Shores".

[kristofburger]

Originally posted by Baden:

I'm not experiencing any dynamic output from the Wind Turbines (or the Coal Power Plant) at all. It is either static 8 MW or 2 MW. I haven't read anywhere they're supposed to fluctuate depending on the wind speed. Of course, if you place them in a less optimal spot with less (STATIC) wind speed, they will have a lower max static MW output.

Wind speed is lower when there's fog (and higher when it rains).

[Baden]

Originally posted by ristosal:

Wind speed is lower when there's fog (and higher when it rains).

Oh okay, didn't know that, but it makes perfect sense.
Now that you mention rain, I'm pretty sure I've seen 2 MW production from my Wind Turbines even during rain.

[kristofburger]

Yeah, the behaviour of your power plants is weird. Do you have older savegames (before v1.8.0) to check if those are ok?

[Czardus]

For power plants that require fuel, it's also possible that you're running out of fuel, though that should drop the production to 0 mw. Either way, make sure that you always have good traffic flow to your power plants so you can get fuel deliveries.

[Baden]

Originally posted by ristosal:

Yeah, the behaviour of your power plants is weird. Do you have older savegames (before v1.8.0) to check if those are ok?

Sadly no. I just bought the game a few days ago.

Originally posted by Czardus:

For power plants that require fuel, it's also possible that you're running out of fuel, though that should drop the production to 0 mw. Either way, make sure that you always have good traffic flow to your power plants so you can get fuel deliveries.

With fuel I suppose you mean coal. As mentioned, my Coal Power Plant says it has coal stored for 70 weeks, which should be more than enough (picture linked in first post).
Also, this city is pretty much brand new, with a nice traffic flow everywhere and easy accessible for delivery trucks etc.

[kristofburger]

Well your night budget would definitely explain it.

[Your Neighbour]

Possibly traffic, if your traffic is bad the plant eventually have times when it has no coal to burn to very little = no full output

[Phoenix C64]

Originally posted by Your Neighbour:

Possibly traffic, if your traffic is bad the plant eventually have times when it has no coal to burn to very little = no full output

^this

[MarkJohnson]

It's your budget causing the issue. 50% is skewed. I believe it reduces cost 50%, but reduces output 75%. Same with 150% budget. 150% price increase, but 125% output increase. Always leave your budget at 100% as it is the optimal output.

example:

100% budget = 100 watts
50% budget = 25 watts
150% budget = 125 watts