Simplification helps to reduce capital costs and provides a hedge against regulatory driven operating and maintenance costs by eliminating equipment which is subject to regulation. The AP600's capital cost for a twin unit station is expected to be about 15% less than for conventional twin 600 MWe unit stations. Projected operating and maintenance costs are 35% less than the current industry average. Economic performance driven by simplicity rather than scale allows generating companies to add capacity in AP600's smaller increments that more closely match demand growth.