Energy Exchanger

Power Transmission

The power conversion facility. Can not only store the surplus electric energy in the power grid into an empty accumulator to make a full accumulator; it can also release the electric energy stored in the full accumulator.

Input Power		54.0 MW
Output Power		54.0 MW
Accumulated		540.0 MJ
Made In		Assembler
Hand-Make		Replicator
Stack Size		20

1

15 s

40

8

Summary

Many players are a little confused about the Energy Exchanger's purpose, because its unlock technology's name is Interstellar Power Transmission, which makes it sound like it can beam energy across solar systems. However, the actual building functions more a rechargeable battery charger/discharger, with the Accumulator serving the purpose of a battery. The Energy Exchanger has three modes of operation: Charge, Idle, and Discharge.

In one location, an Energy Exchanger may be set in Charge mode, which takes in empty Accumulators and generates full Accumulators in a very short amount of time. Full Accumulators can then be transferred to other power grids via any distribution system (belts, Planetary Logistics Stations, or Interstellar Logistics Stations). At the destination power grid, an Energy Exchanger can discharge a full Accumulator, releasing an empty Accumulator.

Accumulators operated in this way will behave as directly placed Accumulators only if it is used as the primary power source. Otherwise, they will dump their charge into the grid.

Production Chain

Recipe	Building	Replicator?	Technology
1 15 s 40 40 40 8		✔

Player Tips & Tricks

Has great Potential to Transport a lot of Energy between Planets and Starsystems.
Harvest Energy on high Solar and Wind Planets, Charge Accumulator and transport them to Planets with small Solar and Wind Yield, Discharge them.
The need of Accumulators in Cycle is relatively high, be prepared to have enough for rotation.
The Energy Exchanger will consume *up to* 45 MW = 45 MJ/s when filling accumulators, filling an accumulator in 2s (30/min) at full power. If the power available in the power grid is less than 45 MW, then the Energy Exchanger will consume only up to 100% of the power grid, leading to slower fill rates. Ensure a stable power supply to prevent interruptions in accumulator distribution networks.
The Energy Exchanger will always discharge at its maximum 45MW rate. This means when powering a world using Energy Exchangers from an off-world source, the Energy Exchangers are the primary power source for the network and all others are secondary. This has the effect of reducing demand on the other power generators on the network, causing them to slow down or even stop. This can cause bottlenecks if, for example, the player is using Thermal Power Stations to burn off excess Hydrogen. To prevent this, have an additional array of Energy Exchangers on the same network in charge mode, and have the discharge array prioritise receiving accumulators from/returning accumulators to this array rather than the off-world source. This ensures excess energy is continuously removed from and added back to the grid instead of pulling energy from off-world, ensuring other power generators remain at full output. The off-world source will only be used if the network's power demands grow too large for the other energy sources on the network.