BlockFactory:Power

Machines on a belt line, connected by power lines

Electric machines need a power grid: generators feed power poles, and the poles supply every machine inside their supply area. Your first grid comes in Epoch 1 with the research Steam Power. Later you add coal, solar and finally nuclear power.

How a grid works

• Poles connect themselves. A new pole links to the nearest poles within its wire reach, up to 5 wires per pole. Between two different pole types the shorter reach counts. All poles linked this way form one grid.
• Poles supply an area. A building joins the grid if any of its blocks lies inside the square supply area of a pole, up to 4 blocks above or below the pole. Generators, Solar Panels and Storage Cells join the grid the same way as machines.
• Everyone gets the same share. Each tick the generators offer what they can deliver and the consumers ask for what they need. If there is not enough, every consumer gets the same percentage (the satisfaction). There are no priorities: no machine is served before another.
• Generators only make what is used. A Steam Generator only takes as much steam, and a Coal Plant only burns as much fuel, as the grid needs.

To lay a line of poles, hold the build button and drag. A new pole is placed each time you reach the edge of the wire reach of the last one.

Power poles

Icon	Pole	Epoch	Size	Wire reach	Supply area	Research	Recipe
	Small Power Pole	1	1 × 1	7.5 blocks	5 × 5	Steam Power	1 Wood + 2 Copper Cable → 2
	Medium Power Pole	2	1 × 1	9 blocks	7 × 7	Coal Power	2 Steel Plate + 2 Copper Plate + 2 Iron Plate
	Big Power Pole	3	2 × 2	30 blocks	3 × 3	Electric Energy Distribution	5 Steel Plate + 5 Copper Plate + 2 Concrete
	Relay	4	2 × 2	18 blocks	19 × 19	Advanced Smelting	10 Steel Plate + 5 Advanced Circuit + 5 Copper Plate

The Big Power Pole carries power over long distances but supplies almost nothing around itself. The Relay covers a whole block of machines at once.

The power window

Use a pole, a Solar Panel or a Storage Cell to open the power window. It shows:

• the wire reach and supply area of the pole type,
• the grid: number of poles, consumers and producers,
• current production, what the generators could deliver, current demand and satisfaction,
• the speed your machines run at, and the satisfaction over the last 60 seconds,
• for a Storage Cell its charge, for a Solar Panel its current output.

Cables, Wirecutter and Power Goggles

The cables between poles appear on their own; you never place them by hand.

• Wirecutter (2 Iron Plate + 1 Wood, available from the start): right-click a pole, then a second pole. This hides the cable between them or shows it again. It is only for looks: the poles stay connected and the grid does not change. Right-click the same pole twice to cancel.
• Power Goggles (2 Glass + 2 Copper Cable + 1 Iron Plate, available from the start): wear them as a helmet to see the supply areas of all poles within 48 blocks.

Steam power

Water pumps at a lake feeding a boiler

The first power plant: a Water Pump feeds Water Boilers, the boilers burn fuel and turn water into steam, and Steam Generators turn the steam into electricity. All three are unlocked by Steam Power.

Icon	Building	Size	Energy	Throughput	Noise	Recipe
	Water Pump	1 × 2	none	1,200 water/s	–	2 Electronic Circuit + 1 Pipe T1 + 1 Iron Gear
	Water Boiler	3 × 2	burns 1.8 MW of fuel	60 water/s → 60 steam/s	30/min	1 Brick Furnace + 4 Pipe T1
	Steam Generator	3 × 5	up to 900 kW	30 steam/s	4/min	8 Iron Gear + 10 Iron Plate + 5 Pipe T1

Ratio: 1 Water Pump : 20 Water Boilers : 40 Steam Generators. One boiler feeds exactly two generators.

• Water Pump: place it at the shore while looking at the water. The walkway goes out over the water, the outlet faces you. It needs water in or under its walkway, otherwise it pumps nothing. It needs no power.
• Water Boiler: water enters on the left and right of the back row and passes through, so you can chain boilers side by side. Steam leaves at the back in the middle. Use opens a furnace-like window for the fuel; the bar shows the water level. Any fuel works: at full load Coal (4 MJ) lasts about 2.2 seconds, Wood (2 MJ) half as long, Solid Fuel (12 MJ) three times as long. A boiler only burns while its steam has somewhere to go.
• Steam Generator: steam runs along its right side from back to front, so generators can stand directly in a row.

Water and steam travel in any pipe, see Fluids.

Other power sources

Icon	Building	Epoch	Size	Energy	Research	Recipe
	Coal Plant	2	4 × 6	up to 1.8 MW from fuel	Coal Power	10 Steel Plate + 10 Stone Brick + 5 Iron Gear + 5 Electronic Circuit
	Solar Panel	3	3 × 3	up to 60 kW in full daylight	Solar Energy	5 Steel Plate + 15 Electronic Circuit + 5 Silicon + 5 Glass
	Storage Cell	3	2 × 2	stores 5 MJ, 300 kW in and out	Batteries	2 Iron Plate + 5 Battery

• Coal Plant: boiler and generator in one, with no water and no pipes. It has a single fuel slot, takes any fuel and burns only as much as the grid needs. With 40 noise per minute it is very loud, which draws enemies.
• Solar Panel: output follows the sun, from nothing at night to 60 kW at midday. No fuel.
• Storage Cell: charges from spare generator capacity and gives power back as soon as demand is higher than the generators can deliver. A full cell can deliver 300 kW for about 17 seconds. Solar Panels plus Storage Cells can carry a grid through the night.

Lamp

Lamp

Epoch	1
Size	1 × 1
Energy	Electric
Power	5 kW, only at night
Health	60
Research	Steam Power

A Lamp (1 Electronic Circuit + 3 Copper Cable + 1 Iron Plate) lights up at night while it gets power and uses nothing by day. Because it needs so little, it stays lit on a weak grid. Lamps can be switched with the signal network.

Bunker Power Connector

The Bunker Power Connector stands next to the bunker exit. It is a 30 kW consumer: put it inside the supply area of a pole on a working grid and the bunker gets its light, ventilation and terminal back.

When power runs short

• Electric machines slow down: with 70 % satisfaction every machine on the grid works at about 70 % speed. Machines show Low Power while the grid is short and No Power when they are not connected or get nothing.
• Storage Cells discharge first and cover the gap as long as they hold energy.
• Lamps stay lit as long as they get any power at all.
• Some buildings only know "on" or "off": the Rune Beacon and the Oil Pumpjack work normally as long as they get at least half of their power and stop completely below that.

Do not feed boilers with electric Grabbers. When the grid is short, electric Grabbers slow down too, so they bring less fuel, the boilers make less steam, the grid gets even shorter, and in the end the whole grid goes dark. When a boiler runs out of fuel, the game shows a tip about this. Feed boilers with a Coal Grabber instead: it fuels itself from the coal it carries and does not depend on the grid. See Grabbers.

See also

• Fluids
• Nuclear Power
• Signals and Programmable Interface
• Buildings