Last Updated on 3 February, 2021
Factorio Solar Panel Ratio – the Optimal Ratio by default, the formula of the optimal ratio, and formulas for the main mods of the game
Factorio Solar Panel Ratio – Optimal Ratio
The optimal ratio is 0.84 or 21:25 accumulators per solar panel, and 23.8 solar panels per megawatt required by your factory. Because you need 1.428 MW of production (of solar panels) and 100MJ of storage to provide 1 MW of power over one day-night cycle
Factorio Solar Panel Ratio – Calculations
There are a lot of things to take in mind, but everything can be calculated according to this formula:
Accumulators / Solar panels = (day + dawn) × (night + dawn × (day + dawn) / game day) / game day × Solar power / Accumulator energy
If you use the default time lengths:
- Day = 12500/60s
- Dawn and also Dusk = 5000/60s
- Night = 2500/60s
And also the default values:
- Solar power = 60 kW
- Accumulator energy = 5 MJ or also 5000 kJ
You will obtain the optimal ratio = 21:25 accumulators per solar panel
Factorio Solar Panel Ratio – Mods
There are a lot of mods, but here you can check how to change the formula if you are using mods that change the power generation & storage, or also the length of the day
Default lenght of days
There are mods that change some default values, like the power generation or also the energy storage. If you are using them, but they don’t change the length of the days, you can use a simpler version of the formula:
Accumulators / Solar_panels = 70s × Solar power / Accumulator energy
Vanilla (chanves the lenght of the day)
If you are using mods like Vanilla, that only chage the length of the day (but not the ratios dusk/day or dawn/night, the formula is even simpler:
Accumulators / Solar_panels = 0.002016 /s × game day
Game day was 25000/60s by default, and now you just have to change the value to the new length (in seconds)
Other Factorio Guides:
- Boiler to Steam Ratio
- Oil Refinery
