Power System
Introduction
In The Crust, most buildings either require, store or generate electrical power.
Power generation
There are two main types of power generation: Sun-dependant and -independant. The solar panels consume no resources, but only generate their power during the day, requiring Batteries to store power for the night.
| Name | (Peak) Generation amount | CPU consumption | CPU consumption per (peak) power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Solar Panel | 30 | 2 | 0.066 |
| Medium Solar Panel | 75 | 3 | 0.04 |
| Large Solar Panel | 300 | 5 | 0.016 |
| Fuel Generator | 90 | 1 | 0.011 |
| RTG | 16 | 1 | 0.0625 |
- The numbers for non-regenerative power sources do not include the energy or CPU consumption for the buildings required for the creation of their fuels.
- The numbers for solar panels do not include the cost of the batteries required to store their power for the night.
- The numbers are without any upgrade research.
Power Storage
Power Storage has two main uses:
- When using solar as main power source they are required in order to not have blackouts during the night.
- When using other sources of power batteries may be used to create a buffer, allowing power to be built up during low-demand which can then be consumed during high-demand. This is similar to how pump-storage-systems work in the real world.
One unit of output/input is óne Megawatt. The connection betwenn consumption units and storage units is unconfirmed.
There are currently two power storage buildings in the game:
| Name | Storage Capacity (Unit) | maximum discharge rate (MW) | maximum charge rate (MW) | CPU cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery | 100,000 | 10 | 50 | 1 |
| Large Battery | 500,000 | 50 | 250 (unconfirmed) | 3 |
- The numbers are without any upgrade research.
Solar Panels / Batteries ratio
This list lists ratios between solar panels and batteries; meaning how many batteries are required per solar panel to achieve a steady 24/7 output. The battery count is in basic batteries, to get the Large Battery count just divide the Battery amount by 5. Take all of these with a grain of salt as it is unconfirmed whether there are systems playing around with maximum solar panel output (though they have been observed peaking way below their advertised peak.)
| Solar Panel Tier | Battery amount | steady output | CPU / steady output (Battery) | CPU / steady output (Large Battery) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
- The numbers are without any upgrade research.
The following table holds some data that will be compiled into the table above when all relevant information is collected.
| Solar Panel Tier | Power Storage Unit generation / lunar day |
|---|---|
| 1 | 81108 |
| 2 | 202870 |
- The numbers are without any upgrade research.