Power

Power is one of the main resources as well as a heavily simulated system in Stationeers. It does not reflect reality, but is rather a simplified system with its' own complexity.

Power Mechanics
A power network is a series of connected Cables and the individual machines connected to it. Each network has two main metrics - Actual Power, and Power Potential. Actual power is the active draw, or usage, of power from machines on the network. The Power Potential of the network is the currently accessible potential of power that could be drawn from the network. As such, the Actual Power can never exceed the Power Potential, if more power is needed by machines, you effectively have a shortage and different machines will handle this in different ways. Some times the Power Potential is buffered in batteries, in which case it is saved for later, but in the case of power generation - Power Potential that isn't used will be effectively lost. Making, e.g. Generator (Solid Fuel) waste the majority of its' potential in the early game.

Cables Blowing and Fuses
Individual types of cable have a maximum Actual Power limit, the Potential Power can be as high as you want, but if the Actual Power draw from the network exceeds the capacity of the cable, one or more cables on the network will blow. In order to avoid random cables blowing, you can add a Fuse to the power network. Once the power limit is exceeded, the fuse on the network will blow instead of random pieces of cable on the network.