[0.8.x] Big solar farm

[darkminaz]

hmm nice design, somehow i just went with the line modes, makes it quite easy to walk through and to add more means just get the 50+ from the factory -> klick and push s for a while ^^
guess i'm not the best worker out there .. but maybe the most lazy

[Glyph]

hmm nice design, somehow i just went with the line modes, makes it quite easy to walk through and to add more means just get the 50+ from the factory -> klick and push s for a while ^^
guess i'm not the best worker out there .. but maybe the most lazy

There are advantages and disadvantages to each design (with the exception of a couple that have strictly better versions). Being able to walk through can be a big deal, and actually the simplest designs have the best cost efficiency that we've seen thus far (8 panels / pole). If you have plenty of space and you're not trying to optimize layouts, then any design is great.

[darkminaz]

jup, well i mostly put most of my value on the overall look as posted in my other thread (http://i.imgur.com/PoxB220.jpg)
but it's still quite surprising how mutch land i loose in the process. (not that i realy have a big issue ony my current map with that)

if i ever try a compact system ill try out the 3x2 version

[Glyph]

jup, well i mostly put most of my value on the overall look as posted in my other thread (http://i.imgur.com/PoxB220.jpg)
but it's still quite surprising how mutch land i loose in the process. (not that i realy have a big issue ony my current map with that)

if i ever try a compact system ill try out the 3x2 version

No matter what you do, you'll be taking up a lot of space with solar . Here is my 3x2 setup:



I have the accumulator blocks intersect the 3x2 blocks because I think it looks cool, no other reason

I made a 2x2 block of 3x2 solars with power poles surrounding it (in the correct spots), and I use that as a blueprint to construct more solar.

[JoshLittle]

Is it possible to run a belt through your separation? I have "only" one gap between my fields but they prevented me from ripping down entire sections. Ok, in my solar setup it would also have the possibility to use one of my running-gaps with undergroundbelts but I never did yet. But it has to be a pain to set up a diagonal belt. You would have to make a blueprint out in the air to not have anything else in the blueprint. But still then. I just grab a belt, shiftklick and run. Done .

[Glyph]

Is it possible to run a belt through your separation? I have "only" one gap between my fields but they prevented me from ripping down entire sections. Ok, in my solar setup it would also have the possibility to use one of my running-gaps with undergroundbelts but I never did yet. But it has to be a pain to set up a diagonal belt. You would have to make a blueprint out in the air to not have anything else in the blueprint. But still then. I just grab a belt, shiftklick and run. Done .

My solar farm is only a solar farm. Anything beyond it will be transported by train, not by belt. It is also easy to construct a 3x2 solar farm like mine and then cut a horizontal or vertical strip through it using deconstruction robots. The edges will be jagged (like the boundary between accumulators and solars in my picture above) but that's not a huge problem, especially considering the efficiency of the rest of the farm.

I would not have separated sections at all except that I think it looks cool. I don't intend to prance about my solar panels, so having a giant block of them would be fine .

[DaveMcW]

Here is the layout I use. It combines solar panels, accumulators, roboports, and access lanes in one complete package.

solar-blueprint.jpg (213.71 KiB) Viewed 20348 times

Space efficiency: 87%
Wiring requirement: Any side
Can run through: both axes
Edges: Square

Additional features:

Can lay belt through: both axes
Accumulator/Solar Panel ratio: 0.841

It is missing one corner to allow room for a Roboport. And it has easy access to build or remove the roboport by hand.

The circular accumulator patterns make it easy to find the path through when zoomed out.

solar-blueprint-2.jpg (894.11 KiB) Viewed 20348 times

[JoshLittle]

Oh nice. I always wanted to find something which is also scaled for the roboport-pattern

[Blackence]

Here is the layout I use. It combines solar panels, accumulators, roboports, and access lanes in one complete package.

This is a nice one. Especially the roboport inclusion. I'm going to migrate my solar setup to something like this.

[Cilya]

As i explained on this topic i've been inspired by the layout presented by Cellidor on reddit. I've tryed to do the same with different ratios. I've managed to build this one, which is a bit disapointing cause it only has a single axis of symetry.



Size: 48x48 (2304 tiles)
Usefull area : 2224 (96.5%)
Solar panels: 180
Accumulators: 151
Substations: 16
Roboport: 1
* Square edged
* No run through
* Logistic network tilable
* Electric network tilable

[zlosynus]

Wow, beautiful designs in this thread, thanks . I personally just place solar panels in 2x5 blocks, with lanes running on both sides. Also in a lot of situations I don't have much free space since I don't want to remove too much forest (makes green factory more green ).

[Aru]

60 panels, 51 accumulators, 3 substations


Ratio is 0.85, power is 60*42 kW = 2520 kW
Add 5 stray panels for every 7 instances of the pattern to get 0.84
~98.4127% of area is panels and accumulators
2520 kW/3 = 840 kW per substation

Only wire-connects to other patterns in one direction. So, you can pack it tight (in both directions) without gaps, but you need a run of poles down one side of the greater array to connect the rows. Patched, they connect both ways.

[Koub]

Nice, almost 2 year necro .
You just earned the necromancer achievement

FYI, this topic was created before blueprints existed

[Aru]

I guess I could have found somewhere else to put it. But, people still use these patterns, and the calculations are still accurate.

[DutchJer]

ill shut my face about my solar, running about 4 GW of solar. and i probably need more with my new smeltery.

[pjf]

/me casts raise thread.

I *really* liked DaveMc W's layout, which includes walkways and space for a roboport, so here's a shareable blueprint for it. A huge thanks to DaveMc W for such a great design!

Blueprint

Code: Select all

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[iceman_1212]

FYI, this topic was created before blueprints existed

the dark ages

[D0SBoots]

I like the 48x48 optimal layout w/ roboport, but I really don't like substations. 4 medium power poles have the same coverage (better, if you space them carefully) and take the same amount of space, while costing far fewer resources. Usually I don't even bother researching Electric energy distribution 2, since it's not needed for anything.

Accordingly, I set out to design a 48x48 that has close to the optimal 25:21 ratio and a roboport, but uses medium power poles. This is what I came up with:

Solar Farm.png (1.47 MiB) Viewed 7767 times

The pattern gets a little messed up on the side, to accommodate the roboport and even out the ratio. I believe this is nearly the best that can be done for a 48x48, which is a nice size because it's the biggest you can go and still have fully connected roboports and rails in-between.

Size: 48x48 (2304 tiles)
Useful area : 2246 (97.5%)
Solar panels: 182
Accumulators: 152 (.8352 ratio)
Medium power poles: 36
Roboport: 1
* Logistic network tilable
* Electric network tilable (with two space gaps, so you can run train tracks in-between)
* You can add the roboport in later if you want to

Blueprint

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Edit: I discovered a better layout (twice), which replaced the previous one. You can still remove 7 panels and 5 accumulators if you want exactly a 25:21 ratio.

[BurnHard]

Wohoo my old post lives again

This was 3 1/2 years ago

[D0SBoots]

After having going through various iterations of my 48x48 design, I think I can make some definitive statements about the efficiency of various solar strategies. The TL;DR is this: the most space efficient setup is to mix solar panels and accumulators together.

For a pure solar layout, the best we know of (probably the best possible) was listed up-thread: one pole each at the corners of a 2x3 block of solar panels. This works out to 2*3*9=54 usable squares per 55, or an efficiency ratio of 98.18%.

For a pure accumulator layout, the best layout I know of looks like this:

Tiled Accumulator.jpg (165.36 KiB) Viewed 7762 times

That's one pole per 4x4 block of accumulators, or 64 usable per 65 total, for an efficiency ratio of 98.46%.

Those are pretty good numbers, although you have to consider that they're not square layouts, and you can't even put them alongside each other because their off-axis tilt angles aren't quite the same. But by mixing panels and accumulators, we can do even better, and in a square layout. The basic building block is this 5x7 shape:

Basic Block.jpg (29.93 KiB) Viewed 7762 times

When you put it end-to-end, you can alternate its orientation, which makes the pattern more appealing and makes it easier to lay out by hand.

Where it really shines is that there's room on both the top and the bottom to stack another row of solar panels or accumulators.

Full Block.jpg (259.61 KiB) Viewed 7762 times

This makes the rows too widely spaced to connect, so you have to connect them once at the end, but the overall gain makes it worth it. By stacking two rows of solar panels, you have 76 usable out of 77 tiles, for a ratio of 98.70%. Changing one of the rows to accumulators lowers the efficiency a little to 69/70 = 98.57%. Either way, both of these are comfortably above what can be done with a single-type tessellation.