Solar panel

Solar panels are a passive power-generation item that produce electricity only during daytime. They are the primary renewable source for clean, fuel-free power and are normally paired with accumulators to provide a continuous power supply through the night. Solar panels do not generate power at night, so a solar-based grid requires either energy storage or operational strategies that avoid night-time energy consumption.

A single normal-quality solar panel on Nauvis yields an average of 42 kW when averaged over an entire day. To sustain a constant power output through the night, each normal-quality solar panel requires approximately 0.84672 (≈ 0.85) normal-quality accumulators. For larger planning, it takes about 23.8 solar panels to supply 1 MW of continuous factory power during the day and about 20.2 accumulators to sustain that 1 MW through the night if charging during the day. A commonly used rule of thumb is 25 solar panels paired with 21 accumulators to generate and maintain roughly 1 MW (the simpler small-scale approximation is 6 solar panels to 5 accumulators, which is about 0.83 accumulators per solar panel).

The optimal ratio of solar panels to accumulators depends on the qualities of both the solar panels and the accumulators and on which planet the structures are placed. When using accumulators of higher or lower quality than normal, adjust the ratio by dividing by the following factors for accumulator quality: 2 for uncommon, 3 for rare, 4 for epic, and 6 for legendary. Planet-specific and quality-specific optimal ratios must be consulted from the relevant data for accurate planning.

• Solar panels are daytime-only; always plan storage or alternate strategies for night power.
• Accumulators are the straightforward storage option: size them according to the panels’ average output and desired night-time uptime using the ratios above.
• An alternative to large energy storage is temporal production balancing: overprovision production during the day and store produced items (plates, circuits, etc.), then shut down those production lines at night so the stored goods cover demand.
• To simplify management, keep day-only production on a separate electric network fed by solar panels so it can be isolated from the main base grid at night.
• Account for different planetary environments and item qualities when calculating exact panel-to-accumulator ratios; the base Nauvis numbers are the standard reference for normal-quality equipment.