RimWorld Wind Turbine Guide: Build & Optimize (1.6) | Placement + Power Tool
RIMWORLD
Local-Game Facts From Core Defs
Build a Turbine That Actually Spins
The fast answer is simple: research Electricity, place the turbine on heavy terrain, then keep the entire 7x18 exclusion zone clear of roofs, trees, doors, walls, chunks, and other tall blockers. After that, back it with 2 batteries and run hidden conduits to the base.
Build Cost
100 Steel + 2 Components
Unlock
Electricity
Skill / Work
Construction 4 / 3300 build work
Nominal Output
2300 W
1. The “Just Works” Early Layout (ASCII & Steps)
Starter Colony
Starter Blueprint
7x18 FLOOR / NO-ROOF LANES
TTTTTTT TTTTTTT TTTTTTT
TTTTTTT TTTTTTT TTTTTTT
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SSSSS path path path SSSSS
SSSSS hidden conduits SSSSS
[ stone battery room ]
[ B ][ B ]
`T` turbine footprint, `|` lane tiles, `S` solar. Floors or grow zones stop tree regrowth.
Plan Calculator
Total Steel
0
Total Components
0
Lane Tiles
0
Battery Storage
0
Peak Wind
0
Peak Solar
0
- Drop the first turbine where its whole 7x18 lane can stay roof-free forever.
- Use floors or a grow zone in the lane so pawns auto-cut trees before they become a problem.
- Keep batteries in a small stone room instead of out in the lane.
- Place solar just outside the lane edges. Solar generators are low enough to coexist with turbines.
2. Placement Rules: Allowed vs. Blocked
Five Blocked Tiles = 0 Power
| Allowed | Blocked | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Solar generators, shelves, sandbags, graves | Trees, cacti, anima/gauranlen trees | Low-profile things are safe. Tall plants are lane killers. |
| Floors, grow zones, conduits, hidden conduits | Roofs, mountains, collapsed rocks | Roofs now have their own blocked message, and mountain tiles count. |
| Crops and sow zones | Walls, batteries, doors, sun lamps | Patch 1.6.4518 also notes that doors block wind, so lane doors are not safe. |
The current Wind turbine wiki says the exclusion zone is a 7x18 white rectangle.
Any obstruction in that zone reduces output by 20%, and
five obstructed tiles drop the turbine to zero. The in-game strings also expose
“Blocked by”, “Blocked by roof”, and the
“Auto-cut blocking plants” inspect tab.
3. Power Math & Grid Safety
Night Load Planner
Use this for the question players really ask in practice: “Will my wind grid survive tonight?” The average wind table below uses the RimWorld Wiki’s 1.6 weather averages, while battery and conduit numbers come from the local game defs.
Average Wind Power
0 W
Weather Factor
0x
Battery Need
0
Storage Margin
0 Wd
Stable
Your average wind profile covers the whole night load.
- Battery Def: 70 steel, 2 components, 600 Wd storage, 50% efficiency, rain short-circuit enabled.
- Hidden conduit Def: 2 steel per tile, 100 HP, not targetable, cannot be damaged by attacks.
- Weather XML: Fog uses 0.5 wind factor, rain uses 1.5, and thunderstorms add 1.5 factor + 1.25 offset.
4. Troubleshooting: Fix “Blocked” Fast
60-Second Check
- Toggle the roof overlay first. If any roof touches the 7x18 lane, remove it.
- Check for a single tree, cactus, chunk, or door in the lane. Doors block wind in modern 1.6 builds.
- Re-floor the lane or convert it to a grow zone so trees stop coming back.
- If an old save still acts blocked after moving a turbine, rebuild the turbine once. Patch 1.6.4518 fixed blocked cells not being cleared on destroy.
- If the inspect string says the lane is blocked by another turbine, treat that as a mod check first. In vanilla, most “self-blocked” reports come from something else sitting in the lane.
5. DLC, Space & Orbit
Odyssey Note
The RimWorld Wiki’s 1.6 wind turbine page states that wind turbines do not function in orbit.
Treat them as planet-side infrastructure only. If your colony transitions into space or orbit,
plan the grid around non-wind sources before you launch.
Mods & Tools
Optional
Planning Extended
Verified current Steam Workshop page. Good if you want stronger in-game planning, save/load blueprints, and cleaner lane sketching.
Aligned Turbines
Verified Steam Workshop page. This is a layout-change mod that shrinks the turbine footprint and exclusion zone to line up with solar panels.
M-13’s Wind Turbines
Verified current Nexus page. Older variant pack with higher-output turbine tiers; check its listed version notes before dropping it into a strict 1.6 list.