This is an early and important facility. When built faithfully in new bases, it boosts your overall cash flow. It's a bit expensive in comparison to some of the other core facilities, but well worth the price in the long run. Regardless of your preferred strategy, a cash nest-egg will give you a leg up, and this base ( together with an adequate supply of solar collectors ) is your primary tool for making one. Development-based strategies, however, are where this facility is truley essential, both because your banks will be producing for a longer haul, and because you'll need thier help to keep up with your accelerating maintanence costs.
Having an Energy Bank makes a base immune to the power
surge disaster ( which can destroy all of the base's mines ). Bases with Energy
Banks can instead absorb and store the surge, resulting in an energy bonus. See
Random Events
