That matches the abundance given in the link below. When 99.99% of your starting material is not what you want, I'd call that pretty rare.
The economics of it are unknown, but the cost, though low, is probably not trivial.
Quote:
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My copy of the B5 Security manual cals them "Heat Exchangers and Emergency Solar Collectors."
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Given their use as emergency power, they'd certainly be able to generate enough for rotation and lifesupport.
And, since there are zero costs to using solar panels if you've got them already, they'll always be generating some juice. (As I recall, the star was pretty much always at approximately the correct angles during "daytime")
Considering the station activities, lifesupport would be a very major portion of the peacetime energy budget (if you count illumination too).
Thusly, I would conclude that the solar panels will be juicing up the station for most of the day-to-day operations, with the reactor providing night/combat/peak usage services. Likely running at low output or just "warmed up" all the time except for maintenance cycles.
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PS:
All I really want is for the mod to have a viable set of Solar Panel components as an alternative to reactors in some situations. (Long-term, medium-low energy use bases and probes)
Some modest energy storage components would be nice too. Perhaps 4-turns worth of generation build into the solar panel component?
[ December 05, 2003, 03:46: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]