Power

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Power is electrical energy that powers the operation of certain appliances, including workbenches, lights, temperature control devices, automated defenses, and more. Access to power is crucial to survival, especially in late game. The success of a colony often relies upon a fault-tolerant power grid with a reliable power flow that ensures that your appliances are working at all times, especially in emergencies.

Power generators

Chemfuel powered generator

The chemfuel powered generator produces power from chemfuel. The generator is an exact analog to the wood-fired generator, only the type of fuel is different.

Wood-fired generator

The wood-fired generator is identical to the chemfuel generator, except that it is fueled by wood and is slightly cheaper to construct. Requires no research for New Arrivals. Unlocked by researching Electricity for Tribal starts.

Geothermal generator

The geothermal generator is a power generator that can be built on top of a steam geyser to convert natural heat into electrical power, providing a constant 3600W. Steam geysers are randomly generated per map, sometimes close to each other, others scattered towards the edges or center. Colonies are often seen built in their proximity from early days for future benefit. Requires researching Geothermal power

Solar generator

A solar generator provides up to 1700W of power from sunlight. It has much smaller space requirements than a wind turbine but provides no power at night or during an eclipse. It can be placed in a wind turbine's exclusion zone with no effect on the turbine. Solar generators may be protected by surrounding them with walls, but they must stay unroofed to operate. Unlocked by researching Solar power.

Wind turbine

A wind turbine produces a variable amount of power up to 3450W, based on the current wind speed (for wind conditions see Weather). Requires no research for New Arrivals. Unlocked by researching Electricity for Tribal starts.

Watermill generator

A watermill generator provides power from a moving river, providing a constant 1100W of power. It is relatively cheap and requires no upkeep, but is also fairly large and cannot be placed too closely to another without degrading performance. Requires research.

Ship reactor

Although it is a ship part and not listed in the Power menu, the ship reactor is perfectly usable as a power generator. It provides 1000W of power, with no need for fuel or other maintenance; it does not generate any heat. It is normally only built as part of the space ship to win the game, and must be powered up to become operational for the ship, which triggers a 15-day long enemy invasion event. Requires research.

Vanometric power cell

Similar to the ship reactor, the vanometric power cell provides a consistent 1000W of power at all times with no upkeep or restrictions. It has a small 1x2 footprint and can be moved freely. The catch is that these power cells are very rare; they cannot be manufactured or purchased, only received as a quest reward. With their comparatively low output, there is no reliable way to acquire enough to satisfy more than a small fraction of a normal colony's power budget, but they are a convenient way of powering high-priority or off-grid equipment.

Unstable power cell

Effectively a smaller, less powerful and significantly more explosive vanometric power cell from the Royalty DLC. It can only be captured from Mechanoid clusters. It provides 400W with no need for fuel, in 1x1 footprint that can be moved around freely. While more common than the vanometric power cell, its fragility and explosive tendencies can make it hard to capture from clusters and care must be taken to shield it from damage when in use. It also only produces a relatively small amount of power, so like the vanometric power cell, it is most useful for off-grid or high priority items rather than supplementing the main power grid.

Power generator summary

Type	Cost	Size	Max Output (Watts)	Variable Output	Day	Night	Placement
Solar	100 3	4x4	1700				In sunlight
Wind turbine	100 2	5x2	3450				In open ground
Watermill generator	280 80 3	5x6	1100				On riverbanks
Chemfuel generator	100 3	2x2	1000				Anywhere
Wood-fired generator	100 2	2x2	1000				Anywhere
Geothermal	400 8	6x6	3600				On geysers
Ship reactor	300 500 150 25	6x7	1000				Outside (can roof over afterwards)
Vanometric power cell	N/A	1x2	1000				Anywhere
Unstable power cell	N/A	1x1	400				Anywhere

Power transfers

Power conduit

A power conduit transmits power from generators or batteries to appliances up to six squares away. Conduit doesn't block the placement of other structures and isn't blocked by them, so conduit can be placed wherever it's needed, even in walls, except unsmoothed mountain rock and mineral ores.

Waterproof conduit

A Waterproof conduit transmits power from generators or batteries to appliances up to six squares away. Waterproof Conduit can only be built on water.

(note: the image for the waterproof conduit is actually an image of the power conduit, RimWorld Wiki is currently lacking an image for the conduit. The conduit is actually tinted blue.)

Power switch

A power switch is used to toggle power of the conduit lines connected to it. It provides an efficient way to control power to several appliances all at once, such as a large array of improvised turrets.

The 'Toggle power' button is used to request the switch to be flipped. A colonist with the 'flick' job type will flip the switch.

To construct a switchable circuit simply place the power switch along a line of conduit between the power source and the appliances. While one of the switch's connectors must connect to conduit to a power source, any or all of the three remaining connectors can be used to create branches. A switch can be placed directly adjacent to a battery or other power source, but the player will probably find it desirable to place the switch close to the appliances it's meant to control. Appliances won't connect directly to a switch, they only connect to conduit.

When the power switch is on the inspect pane displays 'Power: On', and the center of the power switch shows a pale circle.

When the power switch is designated to turn off, the 'Toggle power' button displays a red X.

When the power switch is off , the inspect pane displays 'Power: Off', and the center of the power switch is dark.

When the power switch is designated to turn on, the 'Toggle power' button displays a green check mark.

Power storage

Batteries

The battery is an electric device that stores power to use when needed. This can even out the power on an electric grid that has an uneven power supply (e.g. wind turbines, solar generators), and can supply extra emergency power when needed. There is no limit or throttle to the output - so long as it has charge, that charge will flow to all devices connected at whatever rate is demanded.

Batteries self-discharge at a rate of 5 W/day, even while disconnected. If they have any charge, they need to be located under a roof to keep them dry (rain or snowfall will quickly cause an explosion).

Appliances

Appliances are structures or buildings that require power but don't transmit it. Most appliances can connect automatically if placed up to six squares away from a conduit, generator or battery. When connected to the power grid, it can take a few moments before an appliance turns on.

Managing appliances

Reconnect: Click to force an appliance to reconnect to a conduit line or power source. This can also be used to change which power source an appliance is connected to if there is more than one in range.
Designate toggle power: Click to mark an appliance to be turned on (✔) or off (X) by a colonist set to flick.

Reconnect

Designate toggle power

Appliances summary

Appliance	Power consumption (in Watts)
Autodoor	50
Electric tailor bench	120
Electric smithy	210
Machining table	350
Electric smelter	700
Electric crematorium	250
Hi-tech research bench	250
Multi-analyzer	200
Fabrication bench	250
Nutrient paste dispenser	200
Standing lamp	75
Sun lamp	2900 during day only
Hydroponics basin	70
Biofuel refinery	170
Infinite chemreactor	300
Vitals monitor	80
Comms console	200
Ground-penetrating scanner	700
Long-range mineral scanner	700
Electric stove	350
Heater	175
Cooler	200
Mini-turret	80
Tube television	200
Flatscreen television	330
Megascreen television	450

Version history

• 0.0.245 - Electrical devices now short-circuit and cause fires if left out in the rain while running.

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Architect

Power

Power conduit (Waterproof) • Power switch • Wood-fired generator • Chemfuel powered generator • Wind turbine • Watermill generator

(research)

Geothermal generator • Solar generator • Battery

(uncraftable)

Vanometric power cell • Unstable power cell