Steam Power Systems

Advanced multi-block indirect power sources!

Add depth to your power generation with geothermal, light up your world with concentrated solar, and harness the true power of the atom with new types of nuclear reactor.

Standalone version of the steam power system developed for Industrial Overhaul, tweaked slightly for vanilla use.

Solar Concentrators

Concentrator mirrors produce Steam when exposed to sunlight; connect the panels directly to your Steam network, or use Solar Concentrator Mounts to angle your mirrors for maximum output.

Geothermal

Place a Well Tip deep enough below a planet's surface, and it will accumulate heat. Use Geothermal Pipes to carry the heat to the surface, and cap the well with a Wellhead to turn the heat into Steam. Well Tips must be placed at least 150m below ground to collect heat, and have increased output based on depth. Any additional wells within 250m will cause the efficiency of both to fall off linearly (ie, 2 wells = 50% efficient, 4 = 25%, etc.)

Nuclear

Standard Reactors consume Uranium to generate Steam. They also produce Nuclear Waste.

Fast-Neutron Reactors are less efficient when burning Uranium, but are also capable of breeding their own fuel from lighter waste products, allowing them to burn Nuclear Waste as fuel and giving them a higher overall efficiency.

Vanilla reactors will also produce Nuclear Waste, and are significantly less efficient than either Standard or Fast-Neutron Reactors.

Steam

Steam Turbines consume Steam to generate power. Steam Pipes are used to transport Steam between sources, tanks, and Turbines. Steam Tanks can be used as a buffer to even out Steam flow, or to store moderate amounts of Steam for later use.

All Steam production blocks require a separate source of power to "jump-start" them