[MOD 0.12.21] Wind Turbine

[Klonan]

**Updated Wind Turbine available as part of the KS Power mod**

Type: Entity/Item
Name: Wind Turbine
Description: A Wind turbine made from Iron and Copper Cable
License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
Version: 0.2.4
Release: 2015/20/01
Tested-With-Factorio-Version: 0.12.21
Category: Power
Tags:Power, power generation, wind, renewable
Website: None
Latest Release:

Wind_Turbine_0.2.4.zip

--For factorio version 0.12.11+

(144.4 KiB) Downloaded 22720 times

Wind_Turbine_0.2.3.zip

--For factorio version 0.12.0+
--Improved performance with large amounts of wind turbines
-- Also power fluctuations have been changed to accomodate this increase in performace

(144.39 KiB) Downloaded 1850 times

Pics

Video

Factorio Mod Spotlight - Wind Turbine 0.2.3

Power Output over 10 minutes

Power Output over 1 hour

Alright so its a wind turbine!

But power output is based on wind speed, which is set to randomly change as the game continues!
Maximal output is somewhere above 20KW, averag will be about 10KW
Requires no technology, made from simple iron products!

Enjoy!

Any comments, feedback, hopes, dreams, please let me know!

BONUS GFYCAT: http://gfycat.com/BewitchedSlipperyKakarikis

Original wind turbine 3d model from here: http://www.blendswap.com/blends/view/74787
Credit to Frandom for the model.
Thanks to Xterminator for the Mod spotlight

Old releases

Wind_Turbine_0.2.2.zip

-- Changed production fluctuations again lol

(144.36 KiB) Downloaded 660 times

Wind_Turbine_0.2.1.zip

-- Fixed that sometimes wind speed would get stuck at 0

(144.36 KiB) Downloaded 463 times

Wind_Turbine_0.2.0.zip

-- Smoothed out power fluctuations
-- Increased wind randomization

(144.36 KiB) Downloaded 516 times

Wind_Turbine_0.1.0.zip

-- Initial Release

(144.23 KiB) Downloaded 429 times

[Align]

Neat! I always thought that if the game was going to need power for the off-shore pumps, you'd bootstrap your electricity setup with a simple turbine like that, just for the sake of making sense.

[Klonan]

Updated the mod to smooth out the power fluctuations, also set a daily wind modifyer (between 0.8 and 1.2) and rewrote the code for determining wind speed.

Should be a lot smoother now!

[Kayser]

Interesting. The fluctuation becomes an incentive to store your water in tanks, like a water tower.

[AlexTheNotsogreat]

How about making it to change wind speeds with how many objects (natural or factory) around, and maybe up to 50kw. Really cool mod anyhow!

[darksparks]

got the mod and made 3.. but they are not working =/ temp stays @ 0 for last few days.. i ran /c game.always_day=true and mod was added after game start

[Klonan]

got the mod and made 3.. but they are not working =/ temp stays @ 0 for last few days.. i ran /c game.always_day=true and mod was added after game start

Either you're incredibly unlucky, or its a bug...

If you don't mind, keep them running for another few days, eventually they SHOULD produce power...

Im not sure why, but sometimes the wind speed like to get 'stuck' at 0, even though it shouldn't do...

let me know if they start working, if not i will re-adjust some stuff in the mod to stop any prolonged periods of no wind

[Klonan]

got the mod and made 3.. but they are not working =/ temp stays @ 0 for last few days.. i ran /c game.always_day=true and mod was added after game start

Okay sorry i identified the issue!

It should work with the latest version

[Maser]

I really like the concept so I tried this mod out. These are my thoughts:

1) The wind turbines are super unreliable. They are not viable to power anything until you get accumulators and even then you might go days without power. This is a big problem.

2) In the early game they cost way too much to build for the energy they produce. Steam engines cost 20 iron plates and give 510 kW. Wind turbines cost 23 iron plates (and some copper) for on average 7.5 kW. That's 78.2 times less cost efficient.

These two points together makes them totally unusable in the early to mid game, and if you want to mass produce them you even need assembling machine 2 because they build from 4 ingredients...


As I said, I really like the concept and would like the wind turbines to be usable in an actual game. So I have some recommendations:

If you want them to be an early game building, then reduce the cost greatly so they can compete with steam engines. The recipe could be something like 2 iron plates and 1 iron gear, which would make them easily mass produce-able with only tier 1 assembly machines and iron smelting. You also have to increase the reliability so they can power electric mining drills and inserters without access to accumulators. The power output can vary a bit, but never go down to 0.

Late game they have the same niche as solar power, so I don't see why you ever would want to use wind there. (Solar + accumulators is just way more reliable)

[Klonan]

I really like the concept so I tried this mod out. These are my thoughts:

1) The wind turbines are super unreliable. They are not viable to power anything until you get accumulators and even then you might go days without power. This is a big problem.

2) In the early game they cost way too much to build for the energy they produce. Steam engines cost 20 iron plates and give 510 kW. Wind turbines cost 23 iron plates (and some copper) for on average 7.5 kW. That's 78.2 times less cost efficient.

Hey, first of all, thanks for your feedback!

In terms of point 1, i think you have a really good point, i havent played with them, but the zero power (which also is sort've a bug) was too difficult and unreliable, I've changed that in the latest release, and so now power production fluctuates, but never goes down to 0.

for point 2, I dont think it is a fair to compare the wind turbines with the proce of the steam engines. Steam engines use non-renewable energy, and thus would be cheaper and more energy dense than renewable. That said, I am happy with the resource cost so far, but may consider revising it in the futures...


Anyway, I hope you will try out the latest version of the mod and please let me know what you think of it

[Maser]

I made a new save and tried to get to solar power using only wind turbines for power.

Expanding the factory is a pain. You need 3 assembly machines (one of which tier 2) to make wind turbines so I couldn't be bothered setting that up and ended up crafting about 300 turbines by hand. I would really like a simpler recipe, even if the total craft time and resources needed stays the same. 2 components would be ideal, so that they could be made in assembly machine 1. How about something like 15 iron plates and 5 gears? (A total of 25 iron plate.)

The resource cost was actually not that big of a problem, but it did slow me down a lot when I had to spend like 150 iron plates on wind turbines for every assembly machine or electric mining drill I wanted to build.

That said, the energy output feels great now. The power fluctuations give a lot of flavour without being a problem. I just would like to see how much power it actually produces when I mouseover it. The temperature and water numbers feels very weird and misplaced. Could those be replaced with maximum available throughput in kW?

[Klonan]

I had heard reports that with a large number of wind turbines (10k +) the update script would start to noticeably stutter the game.
I have updated the mod to reduce the performance impact, and smoother out the update over the course of several hundred ticks.

Also power curve and fluctuations have changed to accommodate this.

The OP has been updated with the new download

[Klonan]

You need 3 assembly machines (one of which tier 2) to make wind turbines so I couldn't be bothered setting that up and ended up crafting about 300 turbines by hand.

I don't see how this is an issue, a build totally 3 assembling machines is hardly a stretch considering the game is about automation, even steam engines would require as many.

Like i said I really don't see a large problem with the current recipe cost, and from my perspective it is balanced quite nicely

The temperature and water numbers feels very weird and misplaced. Could those be replaced with maximum available throughput in kW?

Yea i know what you mean, I'm not really sure how i can fix it though, its part of the way the game is coded (and part way how i've implementing the mod)
Rest assured if anything in the game updates to allow me to change things up, i will be on it

[Maser]

I don't see how this is an issue, a build totally 3 assembling machines is hardly a stretch considering the game is about automation, even steam engines would require as many.

I mean, if it's meant to be an early game building then you have to be able to mass produce it easily. Very few early game items require more than 3 different parts to build. At the moment you have to wait until automation 2 until you can start assembling them, putting them in line with green tech. At that point you already need at least 50 wind turbines to power your factory unless you use a lot of burner miners which is bad for pollution. Getting those is a pain.

If you go the steam engine route, you'd get more power from 2 steam engines and 3 boilers, and both of those are very quick to craft by hand (1.5 sec total for boilers, 5.5 sec total for steam engines, compared to 9.8 sec for each wind turbine). You would never automate steam engine production the comparison is a bit weird.

wind turbines.png (1.93 MiB) Viewed 27671 times

This was my factory 1 hour 15 minutes into the game. Automation 2 was not yet done and most of my resources had gone to the 63 wind turbines and I had no option but to craft them all by hand.

As it is now, I don't think it's viable at all to use wind turbines for power early. It might be worth going steam power first and then transition into wind when you get automation 2. But that's only useful for a while, because when you have green tech you already have access to solar power.

Have you tried playing with the mod yourself? What was your experience?

[Gusop]

Hello Klonan,

thank you for this mod I really like it. I don't care about the energy output I just love windturbines.
I spent last 6 weeks in Spain and I worked for a company which produce windturbines. Also I got
a little bit of background knowledge and also some informations about the history of windturbines.

I have a big wish: Please extend this mod with more wind turbines + research.
I could help you with that. Unfrtantl I have no modding expiriene or 3d/design knowledge.

Here my concept for multi wind turbine mod.
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28543411/ ... o.png.html

cheers

[Chess]

I'm playing with wind turbines and they are super ineficient. They should be cheaper, like 10 plates and 5 gears.

But i love the concept!! Please make mk2 and mk3 turbines. I would love to power up a base with wind and steam engines as reinforcement using accumulators and circuits to control the power generation!!

[Kayser]

I can't help to like it. This is how inefficient, unreliable, and expensive sustainable energy production is in the real world. The problem is solar is way too efficient, reliable, and cheap.

[JangoBunBun]

I've tried it out, both early and late game. It's OK as it is, but could use some improvements. Either decrease the cost, or increase power production. Once I get solar panels, these are basically obsolete.

I assume you meant for the Wind Turbines to be used mid game. But I can see them being used early game, in conjunction with steam engines. And in the late game for compact power, for when you can't run a power line out, or when a solar farm won't fit.

I recommend either changing the recipe, or increasing the power output. Better yet, do both.
The current recipe can be used for the late game, it produces more power (say, between 100 and 200 kW/s) but has to be unlocked by research; while you could lower the resource cost (say, to 5 iron and 3 gear wheels?) while keeping the current output, so it can be used earlier in the game.

Either way, I really like this mod, and would love to see you expand on it!

[Klonan]

Once I get solar panels, these are basically obsolete.

That's because (IMO) solar panels are over powered. This mod isn't balanced around them, its balanced according to my own logic. Its not intended to be a replacement for steam engines (at least not in the early game), its not intended to be cheap and powerful like solar.

Its just meant as an alternative means of power, with advantages and disadvantages.

[Afforess]

I'm playing with wind turbines and they are super ineficient. They should be cheaper, like 10 plates and 5 gears.

But i love the concept!! Please make mk2 and mk3 turbines. I would love to power up a base with wind and steam engines as reinforcement using accumulators and circuits to control the power generation!!

I want to simply say I like the existing recipe for wind turbines, it is 100% okay! It does not require electric circuits, or other expensive requirements, so I think it's fine. Wind Power nicely fills the gap between early steam power and late game solar / accumulators.

This is a great mod. You don't need to change it.