Biomass Burners as Buffers

[アゼム]

So I just got coal power and I am generating 225 MW with it. My consumption is typically around 160 so I haven't had any power problems, but my max consumption is at 270, which is well above my production. So there is a chance for power failure.

That is purely on coal power. I have 5 biomass burners hooked up bringing my capacity up to 355 MW (not production, which is 225 still). They are turned on with a full stack of biofuel in each.

I read online that they will only burn fuel as needed. Does this mean they will act as a buffer whenever my power consumption might spike? If I suddenly go above my 225 production, will the bioburners kick in to prevent a breaker flip?

edit: I appreciate the advice but I don't know why everyone is assuming a first time player is flying through the tech trees and is able to make endgame max-efficiency coal plants and throw batteries everywhere. I think it's clear I'm talking about for early game

[Suzaku]

Yes, they will only turn on when your power goes beyond your generation capabilities of your other generators.

That said, you should definitely seek more power. Make more coal gens so setting off a fuse won't even be a thought. And you can also consider making power storage instead, which will store extra power that can help handle spikes without needing to rely on something like biomass burners.

[SourHammer]

Devote about 240 ppm of coal to your first coal power plant and you will be set for a while. You should be able to run 16 generators from 240 ppm coal. Even if you have to overclock 2 MK1 miners on normal nodes it will be worth it. That should get you up to 1200mw of power which is plenty of power to run your basic parts and get a nice steel production set up going. Once you get MK2 miners and MK3 belts you can start freeing up some of that coal for other purposes as you will be able to double what you were getting

[Still B0r3d]

"Power storage" will be better in every way basically, once you can afford to build a few. Just something to keep in mind after you get your coal plant working smoothly.

[kLuns]

You do get a warning when the power storage kicks in.
You don't get a warning when the biomass burner kicks in.

You don't need a warning when you make more power plants.

[Illuminia]

Yes, BioMass Burners are good as early-game emergency backup power..... however you have to watch your possible power use closely , as you won't get notice when machines start turning the Biomass Burners on; and they would eventually run out of fuel.

That being said, it would be better to build out more coal than you need at the moment - getting at least 8 generators up and running stable will give you freedom to build out factories more for a good while.

[Man's Best Friend]

Originally posted by still B0r3d:

"Power storage" will be better in every way basically, once you can afford to build a few. Just something to keep in mind after you get your coal plant working smoothly. :gromflomite:

Yep, they're not even expensive. Build a little block of them in a shed and you're set for a good long while. They not only don't need any attention as they charge and discharge on their own (biomass needs refueling), but they can also discharge as a far faster rate. If you had an overdraw of 100MW, you'd need 4 biomass burners to cover it. On the other hand a single fully charged power storage will cover that overage for an hour all on its own. The only thing you need to worry about is making sure that the time between overages is sufficient to recharge the storage as otherwise they will eventually drain completely.

[Aven]

A full stack of solid biofuel in a biomass burner will run a 1:1 power generation:usage ratio for 50 minutes. However, if you scale your burners over your usage, the frequency at which you need to fill your burners is greatly reduced. If you are using 100 power, but build burners to produce 1000 power, your runtime increases to over 8 hours per filling.

In your case, say if between power fluctuations you average 30 unmet power need with a max need of 45, don't just build two burners to cover it because you'll be running back every hour to refill them. Build and fuel 10 of them. Now at current power consumption levels your buffer can run for 8 hours without upkeep.

[CryptEarth]

a simple 8 gen coal plant generates 600mw - why you stuck back with biofuel instead of just upgrade your coal plant?

[Die Hand Gottes]

Save yourself the bio crap if you always make sure that you generate enough electricity, preferably always with surplus then you never need it again, even the energy storage I do not really need after the bio crap no more failure had.

[XLjedi]

batteries

[Die Hand Gottes]

Originally posted by XLjedi:

batteries

you do not need them either
the only reasonable application was with the mod refinery power as a buffer for solar or wind power
but this mod I no longer use the whole map with the rampant terminal and material nodes.

[CryptEarth]

Originally posted by Die Hand Gottes:

Originally posted by XLjedi:

batteries

you do not need them either
the only reasonable application was with the mod refinery power as a buffer for solar or wind power
but this mod I no longer use the whole map with the rampant terminal and material nodes.

I use them in early mid-game when re-setup my coal plant
currently I'm quite fixed to the west spawn and rush to coal power - then I quickly raise a 8-gen plant to get 600mw - exactly enough to setup tier2 parts - and then upgrade the coal plant to 32 while also re-placing it to make the routing for coal and water a bit easier using blueprints
as I do it in multiple steps as the inventory isn't big enough at this point I shortly set up a few batteries to keep power my factory while I rework the coal plant - and then just leave them in place
in another playthru I made a mistake where trains used more power than expected - it came in handy to have some reserve and I only noticed as I walked by them
I play on a server have it run 24/7 - so the system can knock itself out when I get interrupted during some build without completing it

[XLjedi]

Originally posted by Die Hand Gottes:

Originally posted by XLjedi:

batteries

you do not need them either
the only reasonable application was with the mod refinery power as a buffer for solar or wind power
but this mod I no longer use the whole map with the rampant terminal and material nodes.

There are situations where they are required. A radar outpost powered by geothermal comes to mind. I also like having them on my main grid. They help avoid spikes that shut down the grid.

[CryptEarth]

about geothermal - yea, I just set up my first and learned what "200mw-600mw (avg 400mw)" means (I hadn't read it on the wiki upfront) - although I don't rely on it yet (as it's too low compared to upcomming oil) as it "ripples" energy storages can be used liked capacitors to smooth it out
but as it's gated behind quite some effort (even when abusing the shop) it seems somewhat late compared to it unlocks after oil/fuel to be used that way which also makes energy storages pointless except for some edge-cases like the mentioned outpost rely on geothermal

[Die Hand Gottes]

Originally posted by XLjedi:

There are situations where they are required. A radar outpost powered by geothermal comes to mind. I also like having them on my main grid. They help avoid spikes that shut down the grid.

This is exactly where you go wrong when you have voltage peaks that paralyze the network
you can always simply avoid if you produce more energy than you need
I always had the energy in mind when I was too short I first upgraded the energy again
yesterday i also overclocked my nuclear power plants more because i increased the uranium fuel rods production
and now have about 63 GW surplus.
I do not worry about any voltage spikes.
By the way, I have already early in the game all geothermal power plants spiked into the network is a free energy sources and the power lines I used as a zip line and yes I have always connected a radar tower there.