Solar panels do not produce power
Submitted
My first open classic survival start doesn't seem to have functional solar panels. I've built many, none seem to work reliably. I've seen power generation numbers occasionally for less than a second but then zeros. NPC station panels seem to work fine.
I've tested in several other game saves, including new classic survival starts and a more current 'normal' default start. Could not reproduce.
Attaching game save file here (I think) so that somebody could potentially try to confirm.
Files:
savegame.vrb.zip
I have the same bug You can't vote. Please authorize!
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After trying several new games and not reproducing and finally breaking down and trying a new start at station save; literally done nothing. Spawned. Hopped in ship. Docked it to connector immediately right there. Check solar - zip. Station making solar power, ship with single panel facing same direction as station...zip.
Extremely unlikely but so far only similarity - both were initial first starts in the chosen world type.
After trying several new games and not reproducing and finally breaking down and trying a new start at station save; literally done nothing. Spawned. Hopped in ship. Docked it to connector immediately right there. Check solar - zip. Station making solar power, ship with single panel facing same direction as station...zip.
Extremely unlikely but so far only similarity - both were initial first starts in the chosen world type.
I've noticed that the solar panels need the sun to be fairly high in the sky to start cranking out power, but I've seen them work, just not all of the available daytime.
I've noticed that the solar panels need the sun to be fairly high in the sky to start cranking out power, but I've seen them work, just not all of the available daytime.
I really noticed it when I was wondering why my suit was running out of power even though I was in and out of the starter ship. Thats when I noticed it. When I rolled the panel out of the sun and wait a few seconds, then roll back into it the panel will climb to 9 solar output, then flash a high number, then settle back at 0. No more power for me.
I really noticed it when I was wondering why my suit was running out of power even though I was in and out of the starter ship. Thats when I noticed it. When I rolled the panel out of the sun and wait a few seconds, then roll back into it the panel will climb to 9 solar output, then flash a high number, then settle back at 0. No more power for me.
Okay, ran through a new game and could duplicate this also.
Okay, ran through a new game and could duplicate this also.
I noticed that I was able to build solar panels BEFORE unlocking them as a contract reward. Related? I dunno...
I noticed that I was able to build solar panels BEFORE unlocking them as a contract reward. Related? I dunno...
I'm also suffering from this. It's pushing me away from SE2, but it's so gorgeous! I'm torn. SE1 is thankfully always there for me.
I'm also suffering from this. It's pushing me away from SE2, but it's so gorgeous! I'm torn. SE1 is thankfully always there for me.
I had the same issue. Made it to where I couldn't play normal progression at all. I had to start worlds where I could jump to the next sector to get uranium from the start.
I had the same issue. Made it to where I couldn't play normal progression at all. I had to start worlds where I could jump to the next sector to get uranium from the start.
I have had the same problem. No solarpanels work. Not ones I build before the bug started, not ones that I build now. So started a new Save file. That one the bug showed up from the start. SOooo I started a 3rd save file. Played it for a few days. And than the solarpanel bug showed up again. Haven't found a work around sadly.
I have had the same problem. No solarpanels work. Not ones I build before the bug started, not ones that I build now. So started a new Save file. That one the bug showed up from the start. SOooo I started a 3rd save file. Played it for a few days. And than the solarpanel bug showed up again. Haven't found a work around sadly.
Hey, I got something similar but not exactly the same. The NPC panels wok fine, and display power being produced. My panels dont show any power being produced.
But when I check the bateries in my base with gravity generator working it says for instance "2h until depletion". But when I add the solar pannels back in it still says 0 kWh input but the message now says "4h until depletion" so it seems in my case its more of a display bug. Although since i dont know how many solar pannels I need to offset a grav generator i cant be sure if they work fine and its purely a display problem.
Hey, I got something similar but not exactly the same. The NPC panels wok fine, and display power being produced. My panels dont show any power being produced.
But when I check the bateries in my base with gravity generator working it says for instance "2h until depletion". But when I add the solar pannels back in it still says 0 kWh input but the message now says "4h until depletion" so it seems in my case its more of a display bug. Although since i dont know how many solar pannels I need to offset a grav generator i cant be sure if they work fine and its purely a display problem.
I have been having a bit of trouble keeping my batteries charged, think depending on the angle to the Sun = charge, but when you look at output and input it always say zero on the solar, but in the cab you can see them giving some power back. But my new tact is find batteries around that are at 100% and out them in my main big battery and set it to output and my small banks I set them to charge, it allows them to fill up very fast.
I have been having a bit of trouble keeping my batteries charged, think depending on the angle to the Sun = charge, but when you look at output and input it always say zero on the solar, but in the cab you can see them giving some power back. But my new tact is find batteries around that are at 100% and out them in my main big battery and set it to output and my small banks I set them to charge, it allows them to fill up very fast.
I have an issue where solar panels do not work on the moon at all you have to go high up for them to work - this is happening on palatine
I have an issue where solar panels do not work on the moon at all you have to go high up for them to work - this is happening on palatine
I have the same issue that I fixed multiple times by rebuilding the solar panel but after about 30min of testing I dind't found a reliable way to reproduced it
I have the same issue that I fixed multiple times by rebuilding the solar panel but after about 30min of testing I dind't found a reliable way to reproduced it
Need to test it later some of the issue building a base where there is to be water and not displayed yet is effecting solar panels. That might be some valley issues on solar panels.
Need to test it later some of the issue building a base where there is to be water and not displayed yet is effecting solar panels. That might be some valley issues on solar panels.
I bought SE2 (VS2.3) in the recent Steam sales (Jul 2026). I am now at the Vallis Reach, specifically the area between Vallis Reach and the excavation site (where the contract of building 1 smelter and 4 gearforge is). My issue is that solar panels (small and large) cease producing power. On my small ship, when parked (parking engaged) on terrain, the small panels on the same ship do not produce power. When I lifted off into air (i.e. hovering), then the panels would produce power, which is less helpful since I wanted to charge the batteries during daytime while ship is parked.
I also have the large panels unlocked recently, So I built two large panels attached to a truss block (that is built into terrain). The first panel produce power the moment it is completed (I opened control menu to read it). Right there in the menu, power produced dropped to zero after initially showing non-zero values. The second panel built adjacent/touching the first panel simply never show any power produced (i.e. production = 0W). Subsequent checks on these panels in the menu always show power produced = 0W.
I simply want to have a dedicated grid for charging power modules before I start building larger grids. 2x wind turbines (25~30m above ground) are producing power at the moment on the same large grid (where the large panels are). But the turbines consume more ore than the panels at the moment (while outputting lesser power, i.e. 280+kW vs 3.8MW on large solar panel), so this is likely another point: balancing energy production and resource cost.
I bought SE2 (VS2.3) in the recent Steam sales (Jul 2026). I am now at the Vallis Reach, specifically the area between Vallis Reach and the excavation site (where the contract of building 1 smelter and 4 gearforge is). My issue is that solar panels (small and large) cease producing power. On my small ship, when parked (parking engaged) on terrain, the small panels on the same ship do not produce power. When I lifted off into air (i.e. hovering), then the panels would produce power, which is less helpful since I wanted to charge the batteries during daytime while ship is parked.
I also have the large panels unlocked recently, So I built two large panels attached to a truss block (that is built into terrain). The first panel produce power the moment it is completed (I opened control menu to read it). Right there in the menu, power produced dropped to zero after initially showing non-zero values. The second panel built adjacent/touching the first panel simply never show any power produced (i.e. production = 0W). Subsequent checks on these panels in the menu always show power produced = 0W.
I simply want to have a dedicated grid for charging power modules before I start building larger grids. 2x wind turbines (25~30m above ground) are producing power at the moment on the same large grid (where the large panels are). But the turbines consume more ore than the panels at the moment (while outputting lesser power, i.e. 280+kW vs 3.8MW on large solar panel), so this is likely another point: balancing energy production and resource cost.
The solar panels on Valis Reach produce no power. The batteries show no Input.
Like there is clearly some problem with the small panels. Image B has two 10m panels in a horizontal alignment
The 10m panels seem to be working on fixed platforms. The 5m panels seem to be.... uh... barely or not working. Image C has 5m panels on 4 sides in a vertical orientation in the same way as Valis Reach
To that end the none of the drill platforms I made, seem to consume power. They only seem to need a battery to meet the requirement that they be powered.
The solar panels on Valis Reach produce no power. The batteries show no Input.
Like there is clearly some problem with the small panels. Image B has two 10m panels in a horizontal alignment
The 10m panels seem to be working on fixed platforms. The 5m panels seem to be.... uh... barely or not working. Image C has 5m panels on 4 sides in a vertical orientation in the same way as Valis Reach
To that end the none of the drill platforms I made, seem to consume power. They only seem to need a battery to meet the requirement that they be powered.
Version 2.3.0.2798
I did a bit of testing with solar panels and tried to capture as best I could a problem with solar panels.
1 Solar Panel and 1 Battery
When setup pointing the sun/not pointing the sun. It seems to generate the expected amount of energy.
I tested this at -1100m, +4000m, space. All seem to produce the expected amount of power.
Many solar panel and 1 battery
NOTE: All solar are facing the same orientation. I tested with 6+.
This is where I started to see issues. Regardless of how the solar panels are arranged and connected to the grid, directly to battery, through armour, or chaining the solar panels. The solar panels seemed to each generate different amounts of power and it would fluctuate. The same behaviour happened whether the grid was static or not.
I am working off the basis that SE1 solar behaviour is the baseline we are currently expecting in SE2, so all solar panels that are arranged in the same orientation, with the same sun, and nothing blocking the sun; would all generate the same amount of output (+/-1 maybe).
I flew around a bit in a ship with 6 solar panels attached while testing, about 30 minutes in total. By the end when I decided to try and capture something the solar panels were generating 0 in most cases when pointed directly at the sun. The more time went on the easier it seemed to capture the problem across more solar panels.
Videos attached.
se2_solar_out_atmosphere.mp4
se2_solar_in_atmosphere,mp4
Both video shows solar not producing much at all.
My world is published, the save is taken directly after the end of the solar_in_atmosphere video.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3769668489
EDIT:
The batteries are getting full on the ship I am testing with... however, I did a further test of adding more batteries (around 10 x 1.5m batteries) to ensure the output has somewhere to go. I can manoeuvre the grid around and sometimes it will generate power and others times it will still be 0 when directly pointing the sun.
Even if the batteries are full we can still discern an issue from observing the 'Current Max Output' rather than the 'Current Output'.
Version 2.3.0.2798
I did a bit of testing with solar panels and tried to capture as best I could a problem with solar panels.
1 Solar Panel and 1 Battery
When setup pointing the sun/not pointing the sun. It seems to generate the expected amount of energy.
I tested this at -1100m, +4000m, space. All seem to produce the expected amount of power.
Many solar panel and 1 battery
NOTE: All solar are facing the same orientation. I tested with 6+.
This is where I started to see issues. Regardless of how the solar panels are arranged and connected to the grid, directly to battery, through armour, or chaining the solar panels. The solar panels seemed to each generate different amounts of power and it would fluctuate. The same behaviour happened whether the grid was static or not.
I am working off the basis that SE1 solar behaviour is the baseline we are currently expecting in SE2, so all solar panels that are arranged in the same orientation, with the same sun, and nothing blocking the sun; would all generate the same amount of output (+/-1 maybe).
I flew around a bit in a ship with 6 solar panels attached while testing, about 30 minutes in total. By the end when I decided to try and capture something the solar panels were generating 0 in most cases when pointed directly at the sun. The more time went on the easier it seemed to capture the problem across more solar panels.
Videos attached.
se2_solar_out_atmosphere.mp4
se2_solar_in_atmosphere,mp4
Both video shows solar not producing much at all.
My world is published, the save is taken directly after the end of the solar_in_atmosphere video.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3769668489
EDIT:
The batteries are getting full on the ship I am testing with... however, I did a further test of adding more batteries (around 10 x 1.5m batteries) to ensure the output has somewhere to go. I can manoeuvre the grid around and sometimes it will generate power and others times it will still be 0 when directly pointing the sun.
Even if the batteries are full we can still discern an issue from observing the 'Current Max Output' rather than the 'Current Output'.
Hi, I had this issue both on planets and in space. I slept on it and I believe i solved it in my dream; it has to do with Solar panel alignment and being somehow blocked/affected by grid blocks On my planet base i put them lying down, and in space i put them closely to the ship; like walls almost.
When I switched them out to be elongated out of the craft, it started to work a lot better. Not perfect as still there are some generation issues, but its radically better as my other panels were on 0 95% of the time whereas these generate >250kW 70% of the time.
I'm attaching a picture to showcase what works in space and all of them who don't ;)
Hi, I had this issue both on planets and in space. I slept on it and I believe i solved it in my dream; it has to do with Solar panel alignment and being somehow blocked/affected by grid blocks On my planet base i put them lying down, and in space i put them closely to the ship; like walls almost.
When I switched them out to be elongated out of the craft, it started to work a lot better. Not perfect as still there are some generation issues, but its radically better as my other panels were on 0 95% of the time whereas these generate >250kW 70% of the time.
I'm attaching a picture to showcase what works in space and all of them who don't ;)
v2.3.0.2798: I had the same bug in space. Even solar panels directly facing the sun didn't produce any energy. Restaring the game fixed it.
v2.3.0.2798: I had the same bug in space. Even solar panels directly facing the sun didn't produce any energy. Restaring the game fixed it.
had the same issue, horizontal and vertical 5m Solar Panels did not generate any power in space. Restarting the game did bring generation back. I can not test with larger panels yet
v2.3.0.2798
I sure hope this gets fixed, especially in early you are relying on the panels working and due to the long day/night cycle you might see the problem until it is way to late to charge your batteries
will force me to get charged batteries and store them in important locations and plan trips between Stations with reactors to charge empty batteries
had the same issue, horizontal and vertical 5m Solar Panels did not generate any power in space. Restarting the game did bring generation back. I can not test with larger panels yet
v2.3.0.2798
I sure hope this gets fixed, especially in early you are relying on the panels working and due to the long day/night cycle you might see the problem until it is way to late to charge your batteries
will force me to get charged batteries and store them in important locations and plan trips between Stations with reactors to charge empty batteries
i have read somewhere that the problem/ bug may be that the solar panels have two faces but only one of them is producing power, have you tried that? simply turn the other face upwards?
i have read somewhere that the problem/ bug may be that the solar panels have two faces but only one of them is producing power, have you tried that? simply turn the other face upwards?
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