SpaceCraft Power Transmitter: Sharing Power Between Bases (2026)
- โก What the SpaceCraft Power Transmitter really does
- ๐ The setup: two transmitters, two grids
- ๐ญ Worked example: one coal base powers two neighbors
- โ ๏ธ Power Transmitter vs. shuttle: the difference that costs hours
- โ What patches changed about the transmitter and power
- ๐ก FAQ: SpaceCraft Power Transmitter
The SpaceCraft Power Transmitter sends power from one base to another, but according to consistent player reports only within the same star system. You need one transmitter in the supplying base and one in every receiving base, each connected to its own power grid. Across system borders, only shuttles deliver, not the transmitter.
โก What the SpaceCraft Power Transmitter really does
The building is called Power Transmitter in the English client, and that's also the name in the official patch notes. You don't unlock it with a permit but through the Technology experience unlock Power Transfer at Technology level 5. According to our SpaceCraft database, building it takes, among other things, 25 Concrete and 2 Structural Beams.
Its job: take surplus power from one grid and feed it into another base's grid. That solves a problem everyone runs into from their second base on. One site sits on three coal deposits and has power to spare, while the neighbor has the better ores but hardly any sun.
The catch is in the in-game description. It lists +200 power transfer and reads as if you could take the transmitter to other sectors. The player who started the Steam thread on it could only place it as a fixed building on July 19, 2026, though: no transport, no jump, it stays on the power line.
Another player summed it up on August 3, 2026: "Energy transmitter can only use between same sector." Both are player reports from the community, not official statements from Shiro Games, but they match everything reported later in the thread.
In practice that means the supplying and receiving bases have to be in the same star system. Two planets in the same system work. A base in another system doesn't even show up in the target list. That's not a bug but a rule the interface just doesn't explain.
๐ The setup: two transmitters, two grids
The setup is simple once you know it. One player says he runs three bases in one star system from a single coal base. His four-step guide:
- Build a transmitter in the supplying base, where the power surplus is.
- Build a transmitter in every receiving base. This is where most people get stuck: a single transmitter transmits nothing. Three supplied bases mean four transmitters in total.
- Connect both sides to their grids. Like any other building, the transmitter has to be connected to the base grid with Cable and Pylon, or it just sits there as decoration.
- Pick the target base in the transmitter interface. If the base doesn't appear there, it's in another system. Then no rebuild helps, only a different plan.
The order matters: surplus first, then the link. If your supplying base is already short on power, you're only sharing the shortage. How to set up a base's baseline power properly is covered in the base automation guide; picking the site itself is covered in the guide to your first base.
๐ญ Worked example: one coal base powers two neighbors
The concrete example from the thread (player report, as of August 6, 2026): the supplying base sits on three coal deposits and runs four generators, plus solar panels and three Assemblers. The two other bases in the same system hang off it through transmitters and run without their own power plants.
What that means becomes clear next to a typical small base. A player in another thread documents a site using 56 of 60 power, supplied by exactly one solar panel. A base like that is at its limit: one more Smelter and nothing runs. That's exactly the gap the transmitter closes, instead of you importing coal to the ore planet or placing panels in the shade.
The rule of thumb: four generators on three coal deposits carry three bases, as long as the receivers are pure mining and smelting sites without Crystallizers or Xenic Farms. If a receiver runs heavy production itself, it needs its own generation again, because the transmitter covers base load, not peak load. What each stage draws depends on your chain; see the crafting chains guide and the resources and automation guide.
A side effect many miss: planets have a dark side where solar panels do nothing. Since v0.5.25674, ship lights even stay on when landing there. For such sites, a transmitter from a coal base in the same system is often the cleanest solution, provided you've found the right deposits first.
โ ๏ธ Power Transmitter vs. shuttle: the difference that costs hours
The most common wrong assumption: "Shuttles fly to the neighboring system, so the transmitter can do that too." Wrong, and the opposite of what you'd expect.
| Criterion | Power Transmitter | Shuttle |
|---|---|---|
| Range | only within the same star system or sector (player report) | across systems, about 900,000 NP after the July patch (player report) |
| What moves | power, straight into the grid | goods, ore, fuel as cargo |
| Setup | one transmitter each in supplying and receiving base, both on the grid | Shuttle Landing Pad on both ends |
| Delay | none, flows continuously | round-trip time per run |
| Limit | +200 power transfer per item description | 4 shuttles in total across all hubs (player report) |
| Typical use | coal base powers neighbor bases in the same system | supply across system borders |
Remember: power stays in the system, cargo can travel. For a base in another star system, build generators there and ship the fuel by shuttle, not the power by transmitter. For trip capacity planning, see the shuttle guide.
โ What patches changed about the transmitter and power
On July 28, 2026, Shiro Games touched two things with patch v0.3.22978 that play directly into this. Both are in the official patch notes:
- "Fixed the Power Transmitter providing free power." The transmitter used to create power out of nothing. If you built your network before July 28, check your supplying base's balance; grids that relied on the bug have collapsed since.
- "Increased Shuttle range by 1.5ร and speed by 4ร." Shuttles now reach one and a half times as far, while the transmitter stays in its sector.
Also in the same patch: shuttles no longer get stuck when a corporation storage is full. That matters if you split supply duties within a corporation. If you're missing unlocks, the permits guide helps.
Since Community Update #1 on September 16, 2026, the Base Command Center itself stores 5,000 MA of power, which buffers load spikes in receiving bases. Since Major Update #1 on October 8, 2026, the base computer shows a power graph that lets you check the balance of supplying and receiving bases. The Freighter also arrived as a bigger, faster shuttle, and since v0.5.25674 the Shuttle Landing Pad holds 2,000 instead of 1,000 units.
๐ก FAQ: SpaceCraft Power Transmitter
Does the Power Transmitter work between two star systems?
No. According to consistent player reports, transfer is limited to bases in the same star system. Bases in other systems don't show up in the target list. The item description, which suggests transport to other sectors, is misleading here.
How do I unlock the Power Transmitter?
Through the Technology experience unlock Power Transfer at Technology level 5. Since Community Update #1 you mainly earn Technology experience through your base's production.
Do I need a separate transmitter in every receiving base?
According to players, yes. A transmitter on its own transmits nothing: one in the supplying base, one in every base that should receive power, and both have to be connected to their grids.
How much power does a SpaceCraft Power Transmitter move?
The item description lists +200 power transfer. There's no officially confirmed throughput value, so check in your own save how much actually arrives at the receiving base. The power graph from Major Update #1 helps with that.
Why can't I select my target base?
Three usual causes: the target base is in another star system, the second transmitter is missing there, or one of the two isn't connected to the grid. The first can't be fixed; then the way forward is generators on site and fuel by shuttle.
As of October 2026, SpaceCraft Early Access v0.5.25674. Officially documented: the contents of patch v0.3.22978 of July 28, 2026 (fix for the Power Transmitter providing free power, shuttle range ร1.5 and speed ร4, fix for shuttles at a full corporation storage) and of Community Update #1, Major Update #1 and v0.5.25674. Unlock and build cost per spacecraft.tools and our SpaceCraft database.
The sector restriction, the two-transmitter setup, the coal base with three deposits and four generators, 56 of 60 power, shuttle range (600,000 NP before the patch, 900,000 NP after, 950,000 NP according to the encyclopedia) and shuttle count come from Steam community threads and are player reports without official confirmation. SpaceCraft is in Early Access, so values can change with any patch.
