The 
Solar Panel is a power generator that runs on sunlight alone, so it never needs fuel, refilling, or babysitting. It is the natural upgrade from the 
Coal Generator, and you unlock it once you can reach the Moon and bring home 
Desh. Set it down under open sky and it quietly feeds energy into your machines through the day.
What makes the Solar Panel interesting is that its output depends entirely on where you build it. The closer you are to the sun, and the thinner the atmosphere, the more energy it makes. The same block that only trickles power on Earth becomes a serious generator on Mercury or out in orbit.
Obtaining
You craft the Solar Panel at a Crafting Table from 3 
Photovoltaic Etrium Cells, 4 
Desh Plates, and 2 
Steel Plates. The Desh Plates are the catch, since Desh only comes from the Moon. You cannot build a Solar Panel until after your first trip off Earth, which is why it counts as an early reward rather than a true starting block.
The Photovoltaic Etrium Cells are the light-catching part of the panel, and you make them yourself. Each cell takes 3 
Blue Stained Glass, 2 Desh Plates, and 1 
Diamond, so a single Solar Panel ends up costing 3 Diamonds and a healthy stack of Desh. Plan a full Desh run before you start building a row of them.
Both Desh Plates and Steel Plates are pressed in the 
Compressor from their ingots. If you have not set that up yet, see the Desh and 
Steel and The Compressor pages for the full plate chain.
Usage
Place the Solar Panel anywhere with a clear view of the sky and it starts working on its own. Right-click it to open the panel screen, where you can watch exactly how much energy it is making in your current world. That live readout is the quickest way to confirm a spot is sunny enough before you commit to a whole array.
The panel only ever pushes energy out, never pulls it in, so you cannot top it up from cables or other generators. By default it sends power from its sides into whatever sits next to it, whether that is a 
Steel Cable, a machine, or a storage block. Open the side configuration in its screen if you want to lock the output to one direction.
There is also a single charge slot inside the panel screen. Drop a battery or any energy-holding item into it and the panel charges it from its own stored power.
A Solar Panel only generates power when the block directly above it can see the sky, and only during the daytime half of the cycle. Never build a roof over it or stack blocks on top, and expect zero output through the night. Weather does not matter, so it keeps running in rain and snow as long as the sky overhead stays clear.
For larger setups, run the output into an 
Energizer or a cable network so the daytime surplus is stored for use after dark. When gathering a big array into one storage block, 
Desh Cables move that combined output more easily than Steel Cables, since a Desh Cable carries far more energy.
A solar array also works well for keeping a base self-sufficient. Wire it into the 
Oxygen Distributor and 
Water Pump that pressurize a sealed room, and the life support keeps running all day without a single fuel run. Since it asks for nothing once placed, it suits a remote outpost you would rather not visit just to feed a generator.
If you want the panel to switch on and off automatically, the Redstone control toggle in its screen handles that. Left on its default setting it simply runs whenever the sun is out, which is what most builds want.
Mechanics
A Solar Panel holds up to 50,000 energy and can send out as much as 250 per tick, far more than a single panel will ever generate at once. Its actual production is set by the planet you are standing on, and the table below shows that gap clearly.
For reference, a Coal Generator burns fuel for a steady 20 per tick, so anything above that line means solar is pulling ahead while costing you nothing to run.
Surface
In Orbit
Mercury sits closest to the sun and has the strongest surface output by a wide margin. Venus is the surprise on the list, because its thick atmosphere chokes the sunlight down to the lowest value anywhere despite being a close, hot planet. Lift that same panel into Venus orbit, above the clouds, and its output jumps several times over.
That orbit bonus is the key takeaway. Every orbit out-produces the planet below it because there is no atmosphere blocking the light, which makes a Space Station an excellent place for a solar farm. If you are powering a base back on Earth, a single panel slightly trails a Coal Generator and rests all night, so the real win is stacking several panels together and storing the energy rather than relying on one.
FAQ
The most common cause is a blocked sky. The block directly above the panel must be able to see open sky, so remove any roof, slab, or stray block on top. It also makes nothing at night, and the Redstone control toggle in its screen can switch it off, so check both if the panel sits idle in daylight.
No, it only generates during the daytime half of the cycle. To keep machines running through the night, store the daytime surplus in an Energizer or batteries, or keep a Coal Generator on standby as a backup.
Mercury Orbit gives the highest output in the game at 72 per tick, with the Mercury surface a close second at 64. In general, orbits always beat the planet below them, and the closer to the sun the better. The weakest spot is the surface of Venus at 8, where the heavy atmosphere blocks most of the light.
Yes. Open the panel and place any energy-holding item into its charge slot, and the panel charges it from the energy it stores. It also pushes power out of its sides into adjacent cables and machines at the same time.
It depends on where you build. On Earth a single panel makes a little less than a Coal Generator and shuts off at night, but it never costs a scrap of fuel. On the Moon and on Mercury it pulls ahead, and in orbit anywhere it leaves the Coal Generator far behind, while the dimmer surfaces of Mars, Venus, and Glacio fall below it. Once you have Desh, it makes a strong long-term replacement for any fuel-burning generator.
Use an Iron Pickaxe or better. The Solar Panel needs the correct tool to drop, so mining it by hand, or with a Wooden or Stone Pickaxe, will destroy it. With an Iron Pickaxe or higher it drops itself and can be picked back up and moved freely.
