Guide: Power

Space Exploration presents many new tools and challenges for creating power across your local interstellar cluster.

by Watchmaker#7148 as of 0.5.36

Stand-Alone Generators
Stand-alone generators require no water, making them suitable for arid environments. They're also simple to setup and use, and compact. The downside is that they have lower efficiency.

Burner Turbine Generators burn solid fuels, and Fluid Isothermic Generators burn liquid fuels.

Heat Exchangers
Heat exchangers consume water and fuel and output steam at precise temperatures. Space Exploration adds the High-Temperature Heat Exchanger, which lives up to its name by consuming more heat and outputting higher temperature steam.

Boilers are fueled by inserters, but Heat Exchangers and High-Temperature Heat Exchangers are fueled by nuclear reactors, antimatter reactors, energy beam receivers, or heat pipes connected to any of the above.

Turbines
Turbines consume steam and output electricity. Space Exploration adds the Condenser Turbine and the High-Temperature Turbine Generator.

The Condenser Turbine is similar in function to the Steam Turbine. However, rather than consuming 500 C at 60 steam / second, it instead consumes 80 steam / second while outputting the same amount of power. In exchange, it will return 99% of the original water. This is essential for arid environments. Unlike the Steam Turbine, which operates at a lower rate if insufficient steam is delivered, Condenser Turbines will pulse on and off as sufficient steam for one operation is collected. Additionally, please note that Condenser Turbines can handle steam up to 1,000 C while the Steam Turbine is limited to 500 C. The below table displays operation using 500 C steam as this is the most common usage (produced by Heat Exchangers and High-Temperature Turbine Generators).

The High-Temperature Turbine Generator consumes 5,000 C steam and outputs 1 GW of power. Additionally, it also returns condensed water and 500 C steam, which can be further processed into either a Steam Turbine or a Condenser Turbine.

Solar Panels
Space Exploration also provides three upgraded versions of solar panels. Although slightly larger, they can be walked on and generate significantly more power.

Solar panels placed in orbit or on spaceships will run at half efficiency but will always have access to sunlight. A common strategy is to place flat solar panels around a star's orbit and then beam the power to where it is needed. Representative solar values are presented below.

Common Ratios
For every 1gw of heat available from, say, an antimatter reactor setup, you will want 2 high-temperature heat exchanges, 1 high temperature turbine generator and 3 condenser turbines.