Steam Power

Nearly every machine that is not a burner machine requires electricity to operate. This includes labs, so generating electricity is one of the first milestones in the game. The first available power source is steam power, built from offshore pumps, boilers, and steam engines. Later technologies unlock solar panels, accumulators, and nuclear power.

Electricity is distributed through electric pole networks. All machines within the supply range of a connected pole automatically receive power. Supply and demand are matched instantly across the whole network — if demand exceeds supply, all machines slow down proportionally rather than some stopping while others run. An oversupplied network charges any available accumulators and then throttles generators back to match demand.

Boiler

A boiler is a 3×2 burner machine that converts water into steam. It has two water input interfaces at its back corners and a steam output interface at the middle of its front side. Water can enter from either back corner and pass through to the other side. When fuelled and supplied with water, the boiler outputs steam continuously and makes a faint working noise. It stops when it runs out of fuel, runs out of water, or its steam output is full.

Inserters can feed fuel into a boiler from any side. One boiler produces exactly enough steam to keep two steam engines running at full capacity.

Steam engine

A steam engine is a 3×5 machine that generates electricity from steam. It has pipe interfaces on both of its shorter sides, and steam can pass through it from one end to the other. This allows multiple steam engines to be chained end-to-end on a single steam line.

Steam engines match their output to network demand — they release only as much steam as the network currently needs, which means almost no steam is wasted. A single steam engine produces 900 kilowatts. One boiler paired with two steam engines is the standard building block for early steam power setups.

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See also:

• Electric Poles and Grids
• Fluid Handling Basics
• Solar Power and Accumulators
• Nuclear Power

External links:

• Official Factorio Wiki: Steam engine