Power & Solar

Factories need electricity, and the only source on the moon is sunlight. That would be simple if lunar nights were not so long. Here is how to size your solar so production never stops after sunset.

Last verified: November 2026 · Steam release build

Solar options

Building	Output	Battery	Verdict
Solar Post (small)	≈ 3 kW	None	Useless at night. Skip.
Solar Twins (medium)	≈ 7.5 kW	Small	Worse value than the tracker.
Large Solar Tracker	≈ 16 kW in daylight	10 kWh	The only one worth building. $300.

Large Solar Trackers behind a production line. The readout shows battery charge and current demand.

Machine demand

A Pressure Chamber needs 10 kW while working. The Stone Press is the hungrier machine over a full cycle. Machines draw only while they are processing, so a chamber waiting for dust is not using power — which is why the readout can show spare capacity during quiet moments and then drain fast when a big load arrives.

How many panels?

2 Large Solar Trackers per Pressure Chamber
3 Large Solar Trackers per Stone Press
Plus one or two spares per block. Panels are cheap compared to idle machines.

For the standard 4 chamber / 8 press block that is 8 + 24 = 32 trackers, about $9,600 — a fraction of what the block earns in a single night.

Day, night and the poles

The moon has a real day/night cycle and nights last a long time. Our starting station is North Station, right on the north pole, where nights feel endless; South Station has the same problem. Mountains around a base also delay sunrise, so the panels behind a ridge charge later than you expect.

Build panels before machines so batteries are full at the first sunset.
Put panels on the side of the base that faces the sunrise, away from tall ridges.
At night the helmet lamp (N) and night vision help you keep working outside.

Note

You can lie down in the station, but sleeping does not skip the night. Plan for darkness instead of waiting it out.

Reading the power panel

Interact with a solar tracker to see the grid: production, demand, and battery charge for each panel. A battery near 0% at dawn means you are short of panels. Demand above production during the day means the batteries will never fill.

Fixing stalled machines

Check a tracker's readout — if it says the grid is stalled by power limitations, add panels.
Make sure panels are actually in range of the machines.
If machines are powered but idle, the problem is supply: check splitters and belts for blockages.