Solar Panel

Solar Panel
Uses sunlight to generate electricity. It can generate over 4W of power in optimal conditions.
Category	wire
Rarity	common
Price	100
Colony tags	science
ID	isn_solarpanel

Unlocked by Solar Power (Electronics tree).

Solar Panel produces Power without consuming any fuel. Downside is its dependency on light level and day/night cycle: you will likely need batteries (like Basic Battery) to power your machines at night.

Not needing the fuel is convenient, but shouldn't be overestimated, because many types of fuel (like Hydrogen) can be easily automated. Later in the game, fuel-based reactors become much stronger than a Solar Panel (and its upgrades).

Maximum power: 4W on normal planets (up to 8W is possible in highly unusual conditions).

While the Solar Panel is in the world, it checks light level (number between 0 and 1) and the environment and adjusts its output every 10 seconds based on the following criteria:

• Solar Panel doesn't produce any power during the night (even if the area seems well-lighted), when underground (where Survivor players can't beam up), when submerged (in liquid or gas) or if the light level is lower than 0.2.
• If the Solar Panel is on a ship, player station, or in an asteroid belt orbiting a star, it always produces 3.5W of power regardless of light or day/night cycle.
• On regular planets it produces between 1W and 8W of power: 1W if 0.21 <= light < 0.54, 2W if 0.55 <= light < 0.64, 3W if 0.65 <= light < 0.74, 4W if 0.75 <= light < 0.84, and (4 * (1 + light))W if light >= 0.85. Light levels higher than 1 are considered to be 1.

  Note: maximum light level for brightest planets (Garden, Eden, etc.) is 0.78 during the day, so 4W is the maximum. Very few planets have variants with 0.86 light (only 1 out of 6 Frozen Moon planets, 1 out of 9 Proto Worlds, etc.).

• Background walls behind the Solar Panel don't reduce the power directly, but they reduce the light level, and can bring it below the minimum 0.2.
• Artificial light (torches, etc.) doesn't provide power.