Power

The Station Engineers' primary task is to generate electric power generation methods (excluding the TEG and Supermatter Crystal, which must be set up by Atmospheric Technicians or the Chief Engineer), which is essential for keeping a well-functioning space station from descending into darkness. Most computers, machines, and lighting fixtures require power to operate, among others.

Supply and Demand

Use the Power Monitoring Console to determine the station's power demand

Running an efficient power operation is about delicately balancing the supply of power from generators with demand from station equipment. Thanks to cutting-edge energy storage technology (SMES, and batteries in substations and APCs) aboard NanoTransen stations, generators do not have to always match instantaneous station demand; it is enough to generate enough power to meet the average station demand.

Use the Power Monitoring Console to determine the station's power demand. In a well-functioning station, SMES balance the instantaneous demand with supply. Don't let them run out!

If long term demand exceeds supply, you will have angry station inhabitants complaining about lack of power. When supply exceeds demand, the extra power is used to charge energy storage devices. When all energy storage devices are full, the excess power is safely dissipated into space.

It is better to be in a long-term energy surplus than an energy deficit. On the other hand, if your station is powered by non-renewable sources like the Anti-Matter Engine (AME), generating much more power than you need wastes fuel and contributes to space warming, not to mention, wastes cargo's money which they would have wasted on a lasers crate anyway.

The Power Hierarchy

Example of a station power network. The generator feeds a SMES through a cable terminal, which in turn supplies a substation, which in turn supplies an APC, which powers critical station equipment

A screenshot showing an example of a power network. Solar panels produce HV power, which is then buffered with a SMES and redistributed.

Power transmission in SS14 comes in three different flavors, high voltage (HV) cables (orange), medium voltage (MV) cables (yellow) and low voltage (LV) cables (green).

Power flows from generators and power storage via HV cables to substations around the station. From substations, MV cables going out transmit power from the substation and connected grid to area power controllers (APCs) where LV cables take the power the rest of the way to consumers (3-4 tile radius from the APC to devices in the area). A cable must be placed under generators, storage, substations and APCs for them to function.

Separating your Grid

One device not mentioned so far is the cable terminal. In order to separate part of your power network you will need to use a cable terminal, with a HV cable on the terminal box side and the wire side facing towards a SMES. Note the cable terminal will act as a separator for HV cable, if two HV cables are right next to each other and a connecter is placed upon them it will separate those two cables. When a HV cable is then placed under the SMES this creates two distinct HV cable networks; the side with your generation on which ends at the cable terminal, and the storage / supply side which starts at the SMES and goes out to substations.

Currently if you place a substation on the generation side of your SMES it will drain into said SMES as a supplier. This is important as in this scenario if there isn't enough generation, the substation will drain to empty causing a blackout in its connected APCs while everything on the SMES side will remain powered.

Power Generation Methods

Temporary Power Generation

Small Portable Generators

The simplest and most basic of all generators on this list are the "P.A.C.M.A.N." line of portable generators. The J.R.P.A.C.M.A.N. can be found in maintenance areas, and runs on simple welding fuel, also found in maintenance. Anchor it to an Template:Item icon and power it up. Because it generates LV power, it is only able to power one APC's worth of devices. It also generates exhaust fumes, so make sure you set it up in a well-ventilated area.

The other "P.A.C.M.A.N." generators are intended for usage by engineering for advanced power scenarios. Bootstrapping the engine, powering departments, and so on. unlike the J.R.P.A.C.M.A.N., They connect directly to Template:Item icon or Template:Item icon power cables, and are able to switch between them for flexibility. the standard P.A.C.M.A.N. is powered by solid plasma, and the S.U.P.E.R.P.A.C.M.A.N. runs on uranium, and produces enough power for things like shuttles.

The Antimatter Engine

The Antimatter Engine (AME) is not always the main source of power for most stations. However, the AME should be your temporary fix in order to keep the station powered until you can get one or more engines up (TEG, Tesla, Singularity, Solars). Engineering is responsible for setting up the AME at round start.

Setup

1. Grab AME parts from a Packaged antimatter reactor crate and place one on each floor tile you want a piece of the reactor. The minimum is a 3×3 square, which gives one core.

   

   3×3, 1-core AME

2. With a multitool in hand, click the AME parts on the floor to build a piece of the reactor. If you mess up, you can deconstruct a built reactor with a lit welder.
3. Open the antimatter control unit crate to obtain an AME Controller. Place it next to the reactor you just built and wrench it down. The HV cable underneath the controller will carry power produced from the AME. Make sure the controller is on HV wire.
4. Open the antimatter containment jar crate to obtain antimatter containment jars. This is the fuel for the AME. With it in hand, click on the controller to place it in the AME. Change the Injection Amount to the desired level (see table below) and click Toggle Injection to turn the AME on.

   

   Finished AME

The wattage produced by the AME in different configurations is shown below. The color indicates the state - green: safe, yellow: Overloaded (explodes eventually), Orange: Heavily Overloaded (explodes soon), Red: Extremely Overloaded (explodes within the minute)

AME power production in kW

		Cores
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Injection	2	80.0	40.0	26.7	20.0	16.0	13.3	11.4	10.0	8.9	8.0
	4	320.0	160.0	106.7	80.0	64.0	53.3	45.7	40.0	35.6	32.0
	6	720.0	360.0	240.0	180.0	144.0	120.0	102.9	90.0	80.0	72.0
	8	1,280.0	640.0	426.7	320.0	256.0	213.3	182.9	160.0	142.2	128.0
	10	2,000.0	1,000.0	666.7	500.0	400.0	333.3	285.7	250.0	222.2	200.0
	12	2,880.0	1,440.0	960.0	720.0	576.0	480.0	411.4	360.0	320.0	288.0
	14	3,920.0	1,960.0	1,306.7	980.0	784.0	653.3	560.0	490.0	435.6	392.0
	16	5,120.0	2,560.0	1,706.7	1,280.0	1,024.0	853.3	731.4	640.0	568.9	512.0
	18	6,480.0	3,240.0	2,160.0	1,620.0	1,296.0	1,080.0	925.7	810.0	720.0	648.0
	20	8,000.0	4,000.0	2,666.7	2,000.0	1,600.0	1,333.3	1,142.9	1,000.0	888.9	800.0
	22	9,680.0	4,840.0	3,226.7	2,420.0	1,936.0	1,613.3	1,382.9	1,210.0	1,075.6	968.0

Maintenance

The AME will stop generating power when its fuel has been used up. It is wise to periodically check on the AME to make sure it is not out of fuel. If the fuel runs out, you must refuel it:

1. Make sure injection is off.
2. Eject the existing fuel jar from the AME.
3. Place a new fuel jar into the AME.
4. Turn the AME back on.

It is also wise to periodically check on the AME, since it is a prime target for sabotage.

You can see if the AME is currently overloaded (and thus taking damage), if the cores glow in a "+"-shape instead of a ball.

The display of the AME controller indicates if the AME has suffered internal damage. If it is blue, at least 50% of the internal shielding is remaining. If the display shows a red wave, it is below 50%. If the display starts showing swear words, the AME is about to explode.

Basic Permanent Power

Solar Power

Solar power is a passive means of generating power. A solar array is made up of a number of solar panels, a single solar tracker device and a solar control computer (console) nearby to properly control and manage the panels.

Most if not all solar arrays start off not connected to the station, and need to be connected via HV cables underneath each panel and connected back to the station. Once connected, use the solar control computer to change the angle and speed of tracking for the panels as shown below:

Notice the graph on the right has a T shaped white line and a yellow / golden line. The aim is to alter the panel angle (white T line) to match the sun angle (yellow line). Some experimentation might be needed to setup the angular velocity correctly so that the lines stay in sync and generate maximum wattage. Note: a general start for the angular velocity is somewhere around 5-6 degrees per minute.

A typical panel near max output will produce 1500W (1.5kW). This would be enough to power roughly 1 machine and 1 computer (this figure may change as balance changes are made).

Solar panels can be ordered through Cargo by crates. One crate will contain **six** solar assembly flatpacks. A flatpack is unpacked using a multitool, which produces an already mounted solar assembly. 2 pieces of glass then need to be added to complete the solar panel.

A solar tracker device is made using a solar assembly flatpack as well, so don't forget to count in an extra one. It's made by unpacking a solar assembly from a flatpack, putting a solar tracker electronics inside the solar assembly and then adding 2 pieces of glass.

The Thermoelectric Generator (TEG)

The TEG involves atmospherics, and atmos are usually responsible for setup unlike most other power sources. The TEG produces electric power from a temperature exchange between hot and cold gases, with a side effect of cooling the hotter gas and heating the colder one. To produce the most power, the temperature difference between the hot and cold loops should be more than about Template:Tooltip<ref>https://github.com/space-wizards/space-station-14/blob/master/Content.Server/Power/Generation/Teg/TegSystem.cs#L169</ref>. This tranfer only occurs when gases in both loops are flowing, so if pumps in the hot loop become pressure-locked then the TEG stops producing power.

There is no single correct way to set up a TEG (and the available layouts are different across all stations). Here are guides on setting up the TEG:

• SilverPraett's TEG guide
• https://forum.spacestation14.com/t/easy-and-compact-teg-setup/5599 - likely outdated
• Simple_double-loop_TEG - outdated
• Setting up the mix chamber - outdated

Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs)

If you're lucky enough to find an RTG, you can use it to make power. RTGs only provide 10 kW<ref>https://github.com/space-wizards/space-station-14/blob/6e91190478ec03e038ff1c3a10ecd632808f281e/Resources/Prototypes/Entities/Structures/Power/Generation/generators.yml#L239</ref> of power, but they provide it for free and for the entire round. Basically, if you connect an RTG to your power grid, it'll give you free power. Sometimes, RTGs are damaged. Damaged RTGs<ref>https://github.com/space-wizards/space-station-14/blob/6e91190478ec03e038ff1c3a10ecd632808f281e/Resources/Prototypes/Entities/Structures/Power/Generation/generators.yml#L275-L318</ref> behave just like regular ones, but they're radioactive.

Radioactive Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RRTG) Setup

You can use the radioactive nature of the RTG to your advantage. Lord Singuloth generates power by emitting radiation into radiation collectors. Likewise, you can surround an RRTG in radiation collectors and generate as much as ~200-300KW with one RRTG.

Containment-based Engines

Containment-based engines trap and extract power from one of two dangerous objects: a gravitational singularity or Tesla lightning ball. While they are capable of providing enough power to keep the station running on their own, they are also extremely destructive to the station if they escape containment. Containment is similar between the two objects, though the methods of extracting power differs. Template:Important

Containment Setup

To set up containment, you will need the following:

• A Singularity or Tesla Generator, which will generate a singularity or tesla ball when struck by the Particle Accelerator.
• Four Containment Field Generators arranged as corners on a box, which will link and create a force field that keeps the object contained.
• At least four Emitters, which connect to MV power and occasionally fire bolts of energy that can charge the Containment Field Generators when struck.

While the box can have any size, an interior size of 5x5 is safe for singularities and 1x1 for tesla balls.

Once the Containment Field Generators, Emitters, and Generator are all in place, activate the Containment Field Generators and the Emitters. The Emitters will begin shooting the Field Generators, which will form a blue energy barrier in between them. Once all four sides of the containment field form, Lock the emitters so that non-engineers can't turn them off.

Stay clear of both the Emitter bolts and containment field - both will cause you damage if touched.

Gravitational Singularity Setup and Maintenance

The Singularity, also known as a Black Hole or "Singulo", passively emits a large amount of radiation. They are easily identified by their gravitational lensing effect, warping light around them.

Radiation Collectors capture the emitted radiation using Gaseous Plasma and convert it to power, sent to a connected HV wire. Simply activate the Radiation Collector and it will begin providing power as long as its tank has plasma in it. The plasma will drain over time, and will need to be refilled on occasion.

The Singularity has a variable size - it will grow if matter falls into its core, or slowly evaporate and shrink if "starved". The Particle Accelerator is used to feed singularities in containment. A PA continually firing with a power level of 2 will keep a singularity contained in a 5x5 inner sized field stable indefinitely, and provide more than enough power to work with.

While an Engineering Hardsuit will resist some radiation, only the CE's Hardsuit, walls, and plasma glass will completely prevent radiation damage, so don't lounge around the singularity once it's active.

Tesla Setup and Maintenance

The Tesla Ball Lightning, or simply "Tesla", is an orb of pure electricity that will annihilate anything that touches its core and shock anything in its vicinity.

A safe Tesla setup requires placing Tesla Coils and Grounding Rods around containment that divert the Tesla Ball's lightning strikes. Tesla Coils connect to HV lines and provide power when struck, but eventually degrade and must be repaired with a Welding Tool. Grounding Rods do not provide power but are also much more durable.

Tesla Coils and Grounding Rods have a small cooldown after being struck, during which they will not divert any lightning strikes, so be sure to place as many as you can around the tesla ball.

Tesla Balls fit in a 1x1 containment area, and it is recommended to do so to minimize the risk of them striking something important.

Do not place Tesla Coils or Grounding Rods in front of Emitters - they will block the bolts and take damage from them.

Unlike singularities, Tesla balls should NOT be fed by the Particle Accelerator after spawning. Doing so will cause the Tesla generator to spawn mini-balls that will also cause shocks and quickly overload the Coils and Grounding Rods.

Despite the massive amount of electricity that the Tesla Ball produces, wearing a simple pair of Insulated Gloves will completely prevent all harm from it shocking you. It will not prevent you from being absorbed into the core however.

Particle Accelerator Setup

The Particle Accelerator (frequently shortened to "PA") shoots a wave of particles that will activate the Singularity and Tesla generators, and will also feed the spawned objects.

Setting up the PA requires adding LV wire to each part of the machine, then using a screwdriver to close each panel. Once this is done, bring up the control panel and click "Scan for Parts" to ensure it is assembled correctly. You may need to unanchor the control panel, rotate it to the correct configuration, and reanchor it.

Once containment is set up and active, and the Tesla Coils and Grounding Rods are placed for Tesla, you can safely start up the PA and create the Tesla or Singularity. Enable the PA from the control panel and set its strength to 1 or 2 - it will start firing after a delay. Once the generator has been struck a few times, it will spawn the Tesla or Singularity, after which you should turn the PA off for a Tesla or to an appropriate strength for a singularity.

Stay clear of the accelerated particle wave - it will cause a decent amount of radiation damage.

Containment Failure a.k.a. "Loosing"

If a containment field fails, either due to improper setup or sabotage, the object will be free to wander the station and cause immense destruction. Such a situation is called a "Singuloose" or "Tesloose", and will almost always result in stationwide destruction and evacuation being called immediately.

As an antagonist, intentionally sabotaging containment is almost always considered "excess destruction" according to the Server Rules. Ensure you are exempt from such rules before considering sabotaging containment.Template:Unfinished