IndustrialCraft – Solar vs. Wind
June 17th, 2012 | 
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A short minecraft video to explain my opinion on how inefficient solar panels are based on their output and cost. I have chosen to try Wind Mills instead of Solar Panels as my upgrade from a standard generator in my current world as I am starting over for v1.1.0, and I am very pleased with the outcome so far. Here are my notes in case anything was not clear: Common Parts: [Rechargeable Battery] 1 Rubber 1 Copper Wire 4 Tin Bars 2 Redstone [Machine Block] 8 Refined Iron [Stone Furnace] 9 Cobblestone Solar Panel Requirements: [Solar Panel] 3 Coal (and a running macerator!) 3 Glass [Electronic Circuits x2] 12 Rubber 6 Copper Wire 2 Refined Iron 4 Redstone Limitations/Bonuses: Must have clear view of sun Only works from 6:20 to 17:45 Less effective in weather Output: 1 EU/t Peaks @ 13050 EU/day Wind Mill Requirements: [Windmill] 4 Iron Bar Limitations/Bonuses: Must be clear from obstructions More effective in weather (+20% in Rain and+50% in Storm) Can break if producing more than 5 EU/t (can’t break if under 80 high) Output: 0-4EU/t Peaks @ 0-96000 EU/day
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They are both the same. Wind mills must be high so you need a lot of cables. Solar panels do not work at night. Combination of both is the best.
exactly, anything on top of solar panels blocks them lol
You explained exactly what I wanted to know for a town power station i’m building thanks!
I tried your setup, but couldn’t even get a single eu out of them. I had to set one by itself up high to even generate any power. So I just doubled my solar, now running 40 of them. I still want some nighttime power though.
Wind turbines are more effective but they are more labor incisive to setup for them to have a high efficiency. Solar panels are very easy to setup and expand upon, I use a combination of both solar and wind to power my facilities.
I prefer solars because of no noise!
But wind is definitely cheaper and better. I’m just lazy to place them effectively!
What about problems such as the amount of space that gets taken up. You really need to spread out the wind turbines, but Solar panels can be really compact.
For best results you must space them out. That being said, if mine were spaced properly the poor solar panels would have been blown away. *that was a horrible pun I know*
So spacing the wind mills apart by the recommended 9x9x7 isn’t necessary?
Great work!
That may work on EE condensers, but I am with masterkaiden in stating that this does nothing for solar panels.
Fairly sure that you are lying.
When I tried covering my panel, it didn’t generate ANY energy.
Um, Shouldnt It Be, Water Mill V.S Solar V.S Wind?
I put glowstone on top of my solar panel so it runs 24/7
for me rubber arent a problem because i also have equivelant exchange
eh i just switched to wind, thanks for the vid. its sooooo much better and easier to use.
I am not sure, but it makes sense that they would not work. Supplement your power grid with windmills as they will work great in a storm.
Does solar not work at all during storms anymore or Did I do something wrong? Because I havent had any power generation outside of a 1hr [estimate] game-time period in days :[
Very valid points. Thanks for your constructive input. Trololololololo
complete bull solar is much better
Thumbs up for screaming moose.
When the wind turbine breaks it turns into a generator and drops 4 iron ingots, according to the wiki. I think that’s pretty cool: it’s a if the blades broke off, leaving the generator by itself behind.
Be careful! The first time I tried using a wind turbine I had set it too low, and it did not produce any power at all. You will have to find some place that is high to put them on (or build a tower yourself, I guess).
Interesting; thanks for the comparison.
There is a mountainous biome relatively close to me base. I think I’ll head over there are build a wind farm at the top of a mountain. It will also give me an opportunity to test the use of HV transformers to transmit power over long distances.
Yes of course, but finding initial amounts of rubber is still difficult sometimes and solar panels cost 13x as much as windmills. Once you have a rubber tree farm up and running in some manner, rubber resources will no longer be an issue.