Energy Exchanger

The Energy Exchanger is a power transmission building used to charge and discharge Accumulators automatically. It is one of the most useful parts of an energy grid because it lets excess power be stored in Accumulators and later released back into the network, and it becomes especially valuable once Interstellar Logistics is available for moving charged batteries between planets.

In Charge mode, the Energy Exchanger accepts empty Accumulators and fills them using spare power from the local grid, producing Accumulator(Full). In Discharge mode, it accepts Accumulator(Full) and feeds that energy into the grid. In Idle mode, it does nothing, which can be useful while setting up logistics or waiting for a network to stabilize. Its connection to Interstellar Power Transmission makes the building sound like it might beam power directly across space, but in practice it simply moves stored energy by converting between empty and full Accumulators.

Each Accumulator stores 540 MJ. On the ground, an Accumulator takes 360 seconds to charge at its normal rate, but inside an Energy Exchanger the process is much faster: one Accumulator is charged or discharged in about 10 seconds at full power. The Energy Exchanger’s maximum charge and discharge rate is 54 MW by default, and this can be increased to 108 MW if the Accumulators have been sprayed with Proliferator MK.III. The spray effect remains in place during charging and discharging, so the throughput bonus is permanent for that processed item.

A common use is to connect the building to Logistics Stations and use Accumulators as a distributed power buffer. A station can request Accumulator(Full) and supply Accumulator so that charged batteries are sent to remote grids and empty ones are returned for refilling. This makes it practical to move large amounts of energy between planets, including distant outposts, as long as enough Accumulators are produced and transported.

• Charge mode turns empty Accumulators into Accumulator(Full) using excess grid power.
• Discharge mode turns Accumulator(Full) back into Accumulators while supplying power to the grid.
• Idle mode is useful during construction or when you want the building temporarily inactive.
• When charging, the building only uses surplus power, so it will not create a power deficit by itself. If available power is below 54 MW, charging slows down rather than stopping outright.
• When discharging, the Energy Exchanger outputs at a fixed rate and is treated as a primary power source on the grid. That means other generators may reduce output or stop entirely if the exchanger is satisfying demand first.
• If you use Thermal Power Plants to burn excess materials, an always-dispatching Energy Exchanger can create bottlenecks by suppressing those generators. In that case, it is better to separate local accumulator logistics from off-world power imports, or add charging exchangers on the same grid so surplus energy is continuously stored and released without forcing other generators to idle.

Because long-distance power transfer requires many Accumulators, building a dedicated supply chain for them is important. The Energy Exchanger works best as part of a larger logistics network rather than as a stand-alone battery charger, and its main strength is turning excess production on one planet into usable power on another.