Solar Plant

Summary

 * The Solar Plant unlocks at Area 72, and costs 20 solar panels.
 * Electricity is used for Level 8+ Mining Stations, Oil Pumps, and Red Lasers.
 * Because you will also have access to the Wind Turbine if you can build the Solar Plant, and both plants generate +1 electricity per level, you should generally speaking always consider selling your panels and upgrading your Turbine instead of upgrading your Plant - not only may it cost fewer coins, but it will certainly cost fewer rares at Solar Plant 4 and above, as the Turbine never costs rares.
 * The cost of upgrading to the next level are as follows:


 * 1) 30 minutes and 20 Solar Panels
 * 2) 10 minutes and 10 Solar Panels
 * 3) * You can sell 10 Solar Panels for 690K coins, enough for a level 2 Wind Turbine with change left over.
 * 4) 20 minutes and 20 Solar Panels
 * 5) * You can sell 20 Solar Panels for 1.38M coins, enough for a level 3 Wind Turbine with change left over.
 * 6) 30 minutes and 50 Solar Panels + 1 Arcanite
 * 7) * You can sell 50 Solar Panels for 3.45M coins, enough for a level 7 Wind Turbine with change left over.
 * 8) 35 minutes and 85 Solar Panels + 1 Anaptanium
 * 9) * You can sell 85 Solar Panels for 5.865M coins, enough for a level 12 Wind Turbine with change left over.
 * 10) 40 minutes and 115 Solar Panels + 1 Thorium
 * 11) * You can sell 115 Solar Panels for 7.935M coins, enough for a level 16 Wind Turbine with change left over.
 * 12) 45 minutes and 145 Solar Panels + 1 Saronite
 * 13) * You can sell 145 Solar Panels for 10.05M coins, enough for a level 20 Wind Turbine with change left over.
 * 14) 50 minutes and 175 Solar Panels + 1 Trillium
 * 15) 55 minutes and 210 Solar Panels + 1 Red Beryl
 * 16) 60 minutes and 240 Solar Panels + 1 Moonstone
 * 17) 65 minutes and 270 Solar Panels + 2 Arcanite
 * 18) 70 minutes and 300 Solar Panels + 2 Anaptanium
 * 19) 75 minutes and 330 Solar Panels + 2 Thorium
 * 20) 80 minutes and 365 Solar Panels + 2 Saronite
 * 21) 85 minutes and 395 Solar Panels + 2 Trillium
 * 22) 90 minutes and 425 Solar Panels + 2 Red Beryl
 * 23) 95 minutes and 455 Solar Panels + 2 Moonstone
 * 24) 100 minutes and 488 Solar Panels + 3 Arcanite
 * 25) 105 minutes and 520 Solar Panels + 3 Anaptanium
 * 26) 115 minutes and 600 Solar Panels + 3 Thorium
 * 27) 135 minutes and 680 Solar Panels + 3 Saronite
 * 28) 155 minutes and 760 Solar Panels + 3 Red Beryl
 * 29) 175 minutes and 840 Solar Panels + 3 Arcanite
 * 30) 3 hours 15 minutes and 920 Solar Panels + 3 Anaptanium
 * 31) 3 hours 35 minutes and 1,000 Solar Panels + 4 moonstone
 * 32) 3 hours 55 minutes and 1,100 Solar Panels + 4 Thorium
 * 33) 4 hours 15 minutes and 1,200 Solar Panels + 4 Trillium
 * 34) 4 hours 35 minutes and 1,300 Solar Panels + 4 Saronite
 * 35) 4 hours 55 minutes and 1,400 Solar Panels + 4 Red Beryl
 * 36) 5 hours 15 minutes and 1,500 Solar Panels + 4 Arcanite

The total number of solar panels you need for all 30 levels is 15,918, but as you can see above, there is a strong bias for later levels to cost more panels. Here is the cumulative number of panels you need.


 * 20
 * 30
 * 50
 * 1) 100
 * 2) 185
 * 3) 300
 * 4) 445
 * 5) 620
 * 6) 830
 * 1,070
 * 1,340
 * 1,640
 * 1,970
 * 2,335
 * 2,730
 * 3,155
 * 3,610
 * 4,098
 * 4,618
 * 5,218
 * 5,898
 * 6,658
 * 7,498
 * 8,418
 * 9,418
 * 10,518
 * 11,718
 * 13,018
 * 14,418
 * 15,918

The cost in rares for each rare proceeds as follows, in terms of the cumulative cost:

Anaptanium: 1, 3, 6, 9

Arcanite:   1, 3, 6, 9, 13

Moonstone, Trillium:   1, 3, 7

Red Beryl, Saronite, Thorium:    1, 3, 6, 10