Technology · Item
Solar panel
Up to 400 W under the open sky while the sun is up: the first power, no fuel and no machine to feed.
In the game
How to get it
At the grid: 3 cells of glass across the top, 2 silicon and copper wire in the middle row, 2 iron sheets in the bottom corners. Place it under the open sky and plug a power cable.
What it is for
Daytime power for lamps, the metal mill and small machines; charge batteries for the night; first in line on a network.
Why it exists
Power from the sky. It never runs out, but clouds, rain and night take it away: it teaches storage.
The same text the game shows in its progress tree and on the item's sheet (I).
A solar panel turns sunlight into electricity, with no fuel and no moving part.
How to make it
At the grid: 48 voxels of glass (three cells across the top), 2 silicon and 2 copper wires in the middle row (silicon on the sides), 2 iron sheets in the bottom corners.
How much power
- Up to 400 W at noon, under the open sky.
- Less when the sun is low, nothing at night or under a roof. Clouds, rain, snow, fog and sandstorms let only part of the light through (down to 3 %); eclipses darken it too.
- On a network the sun is used first, then batteries, then fuel.
Tips
- Twenty panels and three batteries light a small village at night.
- Silicon comes from sand and coal in the Furnace (8 coal, 20 s).
- Panels keep working when nobody is near.
Right-click a block to place it, facing you. Broken, it comes back whole.
On the progress path
EN5EnergyMain path
- BeforeEN4 · Wind turbine
- This stepEN5 · Solar panel
- NextEN6 · Battery