Solar power is cheap, but gone at night. For everything else there are generators: with fuel, with gas, with heat, with wind or without any supply at all. Each one has a world where it shines and one where it does nothing.
All power sources at a glance
| Source | Output | needs | switchable via logic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solar Panel | rated 500 W, on Mars about 250 W as daily mean | sun | aim, not switch |
| Solar Panel (1x5) | rated 2,750 W | sun | aim |
| Wind Turbine | up to 1,000 W, in a storm up to 20,000 W | outside air and wind | no |
| Upright Wind Turbine | up to 500 W, in a storm up to 1,000 W | outside air and wind | no |
| Generator (Solid Fuel) | 20,000 W | coal, charcoal or solid fuel | On |
| Gas Fuel Generator | about 12,800 W with hydrogen and oxygen | fuel gas and oxidiser in the pipe | On |
| Stirling Engine | up to 8,000 W | hot gas in the pipe, working gas in a canister | On |
| RTG | 800 W, always | nothing | no |
| Creative RTG | 4,000 W, always | nothing | no |
The figure for the gas generator is the Power calculator approximation for hydrogen and oxygen at a 2 : 1 ratio at 20 °C.
Wind
Wind turbines only deliver outdoors. According to the game code they work with the outside pressure, limited to 5 to 25 kPa. Below 1 kPa – in vacuum, that is – and inside a closed room they stand still. The power calculator uses this formula:
P = outside pressure (5 to 25 kPa) · wind strength · 25 for the large turbine, · 10 for the upright one, at most 1,000 W and 500 W respectively.
The wind strength varies randomly between 0 and 100 %. The values below are therefore maximums at full wind:
| World | Outside pressure | large turbine | upright turbine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mars | 2.1–2.7 kPa, counts as 5 kPa | 125 W | 50 W |
| Venus | 239 kPa, counts as 25 kPa | 625 W | 250 W |
| Europa | 44–47 kPa, counts as 25 kPa | 625 W | 250 W |
| Vulcan | 24–82 kPa | 592–625 W | 237–250 W |
| Moon, Mimas | vacuum | 0 W | 0 W |
On Mars a wind turbine is mostly decoration – until a dust storm arrives. In a storm the large turbine delivers up to 20,000 W. That is four times what a normal cable carries. A wind farm therefore belongs on heavy cable and behind a transformer.
Through logic a turbine can only be read (PowerGeneration), not switched off.
Solid fuel
The Generator (Solid Fuel) delivers a constant 20,000 W as long as there is fuel in its "Input" slot. You refill it by hand or through a chute at the chute input. Fuels are Ore (Coal), Charcoal and Solid Fuel (Hydrocarbon). In the game data solid fuel has twice the energy value of coal and ten times that of charcoal.
How long one piece lasts: according to the game code the generator runs round(energy value ÷ 20,000) · 2 ticks per unit. That is 10 ticks (5 s) for coal, 2 ticks (1 s) for charcoal and 20 ticks (10 s) for solid fuel. It already pulls the next piece once fewer than 5 ticks are left. It keeps burning as long as it is on – even when nobody is drawing power.
Worked example: an empty Station Battery holds 3,600,000 J. At 20,000 J per tick that is 180 ticks of running time, so 18 coal, 9 solid fuel or 90 charcoal. A stack of coal (50 pieces) lasts 250 s.
Placement and exhaust: it can only be built with a frame directly below it. According to the code it needs no oxygen. In return every piece it burns releases gas into the air around it: coal 3 mol of Pollutant and 10 mol of Carbon Dioxide, charcoal 3 mol of each, solid fuel 20 mol of pollutant and 5 mol of CO2. One hour of continuous running on coal is 720 pieces and thus 2,160 mol of pollutant. So do not put it in a living space without extraction.
20,000 W is a lot: normal cable carries only a quarter of it and burns out as soon as the consumers draw more. Run the output with Heavy Cable (Straight) to a battery or a transformer. Ideally it only runs when the battery gets low – the program for that is in Power grid basics.
Gas
The Gas Fuel Generator burns whatever comes through its input pipe. According to the game code 17 % of the combustion energy becomes power, the rest stays as heat in the exhaust that leaves through the output pipe. So the exhaust is hot – plan cooling or an exhaust tank.
Fuels are Hydrogen and Methane, oxidisers Oxygen and Nitrous Oxide. Nitrous oxide counts double for the energy. The mixture decides the exhaust:
- Hydrogen + oxygen at 2 : 1 gives only Steam.
- Methane + oxygen at 2 : 1 gives Pollutant and Carbon Dioxide.
- With nitrous oxide (1 : 1) you get Nitrogen instead of pollutant.
The surroundings matter: The game data lists a minimum pressure of 20,000 Pa and a temperature window of 278.15 to 328.15 K for the generator. It therefore needs air above 20 kPa and between 5 and 55 °C around it. Outside on Mars (2 to 3 kPa) it does not run – put it in a room.
Stirling engine
The Stirling Engine turns a temperature difference into power. The hot side is the gas flowing through its pipes, cooling happens through the surroundings. Its slot takes a gas canister with the working gas. It delivers up to 8,000 W and needs only 1 W itself.
EnvironmentEfficiency and WorkingGasEfficiency show how well the surroundings and the working gas currently fit. Watch the pressure: the game data gives a limit of 11,000 kPa pressure difference, above that the engine can explode.
RTG
The RTG delivers a permanent 800 W without fuel. It has no switch and no logic values besides its identifiers. The Creative RTG (creative) delivers 4,000 W. For both kits the game data names neither a recipe nor a trader.
Portable generator
The Portable Generator is not fixed to the network. It has a slot for a gas canister and one for a battery cell. It connects to the station network through the Power Connector. It is handy for an outpost or the first evening, but too small for a whole base.
Worked example: 3,000 W on Mars
A base needs 3,000 W around the clock. Three ways to get there:
- Solar: In the worst seasonal section a tracked panel delivers a daily mean of 249 W. 3,000 ÷ 249 = 12.05, so 13 panels. The night (645 s) needs 3,000 · 645 ÷ 0.5 = 3,870,000 J – two station batteries. At noon 13 panels deliver up to 7,200 W, so the line to the battery has to be heavy cable.
- RTG: 4 · 800 W = 3,200 W. That is strictly more than 3,000 W, so it works – with 3 RTGs (2,400 W) the whole network would switch off.
- Solid fuel: One generator manages more than six times the load. With a battery and a chip it only runs about 15 % of the time and saves fuel.
Wind is out on Mars: even at full wind you would need 25 large turbines.
Common mistakes
- Gas generator switches off: surroundings too thin, too cold or too hot, or the input pipe is empty.
- Cable at the solid fuel generator burns: 20,000 W over normal cable.
- Wind turbine delivers 0 W: it stands in a room or in vacuum.
- Everything switches off although generation and demand are equal: a network is only supplied when generation is greater than demand.
Further reading
- Solar arrays: Solar arrays: alignment, tracking, day and night
- Storage for wind and sun: Batteries and storage: sizes, charging, discharging, a transformer in between
- Starting a generator automatically: Backup power and load shedding: separating networks, priorities, IC10
- Cables for large loads: Sizing cables, fuses and transformers correctly
- Recalculate: Power calculator
- IC10 academy: wind power