Sol One Power Grid Guide: Solar, Storage and Dust Storms
Build a Sol One power grid that survives the night and a dust storm: generation mix, battery sizing, load priority and what to switch off first.
Power is the system that makes every other system possible, and Sol One gives you the two classic ways to get it wrong: too little generation, and generation that disappears exactly when you need it. Solar panels are the natural first build on a planet with a thin atmosphere and no clouds, right up until the sun goes down or a dust storm rolls in and the base starts load-shedding the oxygen producer.
This guide covers the grid from the first panel to a base that can idle through a storm.
The shape of a Sol One grid
The Early Access build models power as a network of producers, storage and consumers, connected by the same base-building system as everything else. You do not need a degree in electrical engineering; you need three numbers:
- Generation — what the array produces at peak, and what it produces at night (usually zero for solar).
- Storage — how much energy the batteries hold, and how fast they can discharge.
- Load — what the base draws when everything is running, and what it draws at minimum.
The failure mode is always the same: load grows faster than generation, storage hides it for a while, and then a storm or a long night exposes the gap.
A battery that holds enough energy but cannot discharge fast enough will still trip when the fabricator, oxygen producer and heater start together. Think in both capacity and throughput.
Generation options
The game's resource set — iron, copper, silica, ice, uranium — points at a familiar ladder:
- Solar is cheap, clean and intermittent. It is the correct first generator and the wrong only generator.
- Battery storage converts day into night, but it is a buffer, not a source.
- A second source is what makes the base survive weather. Whether that is a fuel-burning generator, a reactor or something built from uranium is a launch-build detail, but the design requirement is fixed: you need generation that does not depend on the sky.
A mixed grid also gives you redundancy. If one source fails or is damaged, the base idles instead of dying.
How much solar is enough
A method that works without exact numbers:
- Build one panel and one battery.
- Run the base's minimum load — oxygen, heat, one light — for a full day-night cycle.
- Note the battery level at dawn. If it is at zero, you need more generation or less load.
- Add panels until dawn arrives with a visible reserve, then add one more panel.
That last panel is your dust margin. It is not there for normal days; it is there for the day the sky turns brown.
Load priority
The single most useful thing you can build is not a generator. It is a priority order for what gets power when there is not enough.
A sane order for Sol One:
- Oxygen production. Air is not negotiable.
- Heating. A cold habitat is a damaged habitat.
- Water processing and recycling. Dehydration is slower than suffocation but just as final.
- Refrigeration or food storage. Spoilage is a slow loss, not an emergency.
- Lighting. Quality of life, and needed for night work.
- Fabricator and workshop tools. Optional during a crisis.
- Comfort and decorative loads. First to go.
If the build does not give you named circuits, achieve the same effect physically: separate the critical loads onto a dedicated battery bank, and keep the workshop on a switch you can turn off.
Put the fabricator, exterior lights and any non-essential machinery on a switch or separate circuit. When the storm hits, you flip one thing instead of running around the base turning off devices.
Sizing storage for the night
Martian nights are long relative to a solar day, and Sol One models the cycle accurately. That makes storage the real constraint on base size.
Work backwards:
- What does the base draw per hour at minimum? (oxygen + heat + water)
- How many hours of darkness do you need to cover?
- Multiply, then add 30 percent margin.
Then check throughput: can the battery bank deliver that load at once? A bank that can hold the energy but cannot push the current will trip on startup.
The expansion trap
Every new pressurized room adds heating load. Every new device adds a plug. Players expand the base, the grid keeps up for a few days because the batteries were full, and then a storm arrives and the whole thing collapses in one night.
The rule: after every expansion, re-run a full night test. Not a quick look at the meter — an actual overnight cycle with the base at working load.
Dust storms and the grid
Dust storms are the grid's stress test. They reduce solar output and visibility, and they last long enough that a small battery bank cannot wait them out.
What to do:
- Before the storm: charge storage to full, refill oxygen reserves, park the rover, and top up the suit.
- During the storm: shed non-essential load, keep the airlock closed, and do not start new construction.
- After the storm: clean or inspect panels if the build supports it, then recharge before you resume normal operation.
The dust storm guide→ covers the full procedure, including what to do if the storm catches you away from base.
Wiring and layout
A few physical habits make the grid easier to live with:
- Keep the main bus central. Long cable runs are losses and failure points.
- Put batteries indoors or in a sealed utility room. They are the thing you cannot afford to lose.
- Label circuits if the build allows it. If not, use physical separation and remember which switch is which.
- Do not bury the critical path under the floor you walk on. You will need to reach it.
A grid that survives Early Access
The launch build is version one of a system that will change. Design for resilience rather than for a specific ratio:
- Overbuild generation slightly.
- Keep storage ahead of load.
- Separate critical and optional circuits.
- Test a blackout on purpose, once, so you know the sequence.
FAQ
Is solar the only power source? It is the obvious first source, but the resource list includes uranium, which strongly suggests a second, higher-density path. Build solar first and plan for a second source before your base grows.
Can I run the base entirely on batteries? Only as a buffer. Batteries store energy; they do not create it. A base with no generation at night is a countdown timer.
Why does my power trip when the fabricator starts? Throughput. The battery bank can hold the energy but cannot deliver the surge. Add capacity or move the fabricator to a circuit that starts after the critical loads are stable.
Do dust storms damage panels? The confirmed effect is reduced output and visibility. Whether panels accumulate dust that must be cleaned is a build-specific detail; plan for reduced generation regardless.
How much storage should I build? Enough to cover one full night at minimum load with a 30 percent margin, plus enough throughput to start every critical device at once.