Based on the current price levels of various power generation equipment and fuels, coal power generation is still the cheapest. On the surface, hydropower seems to have low operating costs, but the construction period of a hydropower station takes several times longer, and the unit cost is about twice as high as that of a conventional thermal power plant (the cost of thermal power per kilowatt is only about 5,000 yuan), but the effective power generation time per year is (3000 hours) but only about half of that of thermal power (6000-7000 hours of thermal power). Therefore, based on various factors, coal-fired power generation has the lowest overall cost and is the most reliable.
Solar and wind power generation also have problems such as high cost, short operating time, intermittent power generation, and unreliability.
Nuclear power is also costly. And China is short of nuclear fuel.