Power Accumulator

[HurtfulPlayer97]

Anyone know the best ratio of them to Large Solar Panels? I want to have enough, but not too many.

[Intellection]

Here is a older discussion that goes into the details of this.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/464920/discussions/0/1644292549035000965/

The important point is Power Accumulators have a max output too.

[NotThatHarkness]

1 power accumulator to 6.5 large solar panels. So, 1:7 or 2:13.

2.5 solar panels will fully recharge the power accumulator during the 16 hrs of daylight. The maximum output capacity at night is 20 power, so assume you'll need up to 20 power during the day too, which requires 4 solar panels. In other words, 4 panels to provide 20 power during the day and 3 (rounding up) to provide 20 power during the night via storing power in an accumulator.

If you minimize power usage during the night by shutting down extractors and buildings during the night shift (i.e. relying on oxygen and water storage) then you'll need additional power during the day shifts.

[Redlegoguy1]

While 1:6.5 is the generally accepted ratio and will always fill the accumulators completely during the day, 1:6 will actually maintain full power at all times. It will not fully fill the accumulator during the day, but night is not long enough for an accumulator to fully drain. Since solars are only off for 8 hours, the accumulator will only need to output for 8 hours, which at the maximum rate of 20 per hour is only 160 of the capacity of 200, and to recharge 160 energy over the 16 hours of daylight you need 10 energy per hour, which is only 2 large solars.
You could argue that it's good to have extra backup power for things like disasters or cable faults but I feel like 2 extra hours of power probably isn't sufficient for either of those scenarios, and preemptive measures for either would probably warrant enough accumulators to be capable of supplying more power than your colony needs to simply survive.

[cap-boulanger]

Originally posted by NotThatHarkness:

If you minimize power usage during the night by shutting down extractors and buildings during the night shift (i.e. relying on oxygen and water storage) then you'll need additional power during the day shifts.

I tend to go even a bit more drastic than that: I only run night shifts on my service buildings.

[HurtfulPlayer97]

Yes, after reading the other thread and learning Accumulators only supply 20 power (that I did not know) I kind of figured that you would need 4 plus a couple extra to charge them during the day. However, the more I ponder this I think I have decided to just avoid solar entirely.

[Ericus1]

Which is the actual correct answer. While solar is useful for your starting colony, wind is superior in just about every way. It runs at night and through dust storms, it produced twice as much power base and - once you factor in elevation, upgrade, and terraforming bonuses - up to eight times as much power, for essentially the exact same upkeep cost. 1 large solar costs 1 metal upkeep, and 1 large wind turbine costs 1 machine part, but it takes exactly 1 metal to produce 1 MP. And the cost to run the MP factory pays for itself after your 4th or 5th turbine.

So it comes down entirely to when you have sufficient colonist labor to run a MP factory as to when you should switch to wind from solar.