There is no shortage of equipment in Stardew Valley, ranging from cheese presses to recycling machines. One piece of equipment that you will encounter is the solar panel. This is a unique item that will not be available at the start of the game.
In this guide, we are going to go over everything you need to know about the solar panel, including how to get it and what it does. If you have not yet completed the Community Center, this guide may contain some spoilers for late-game content. First, let's take a look at how to get this piece of equipment.
Caroline's Special Order
To get the recipe for solar panels, you will need to complete Caroline's special order called Island Ingredients. Special orders can be accepted from the board located directly in front of the Mayor's house, starting on Fall 2 of your first year. Each week, this board will display two special orders that you can accept. This means that you may have to wait a few weeks until the Island Ingredients special order appears.
For this quest, you will need to ship 100 of the items listed below.
- Taro Root
- Ginger
- Pineapple
You will not have to ship 100 of each; instead, you can choose which ones to ship. For example, you may want to ship 100 pieces of ginger, but you can also choose to ship 50 ginger, 25 taro roots, and 25 pineapples. The way that you divide these items is up to you.
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Note: You must harvest all of the required produce while the quest is active. You cannot ship existing produce you have stored away from before you accepted the quest. |
These items can all be found on Ginger Island, which will unlock after you complete the Community Center. You can take a quick look at the locations for each of the required items below.
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Item |
Where To Find |
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Taro Root |
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Ginger |
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Pineapple |
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The deadline for this quest is 28 days, giving you plenty of time to collect the necessary items.
To quickly complete this quest, you should prioritize growing these items. Rather than depending on enough luck to find a lot of ginger, you could instead just plant enough taro tubers and pineapple.
Although you will need to collect these items while the quest is active, you can plant seeds that you have already acquired. This means that a pineapple gathered during the previous season will not count towards the goal, but a pineapple harvested during the quest time from a plant that was previously grown will count.
To satisfy Caroline, you will need to ship these items through your shipping bin. After all the items have been shipped, Caroline will reward you with the recipe for the solar panel, as well as gold equivalent to 50 percent of the total price of everything that you shipped.
Solar Panel Recipe
To make the solar panel, you will need the following materials.
- 10x Refined Quartz
- 5x Iron Bar
- 5x Gold Bar
Solar panels are similar to lightning rods. Both pieces of equipment will produce battery packs depending on the weather.
Rather than producing battery packs after a storm, a solar panel will produce a battery pack after seven days of sunshine. This will include the day that it was placed. Rainy days will not reset this seven-day count; for example, if it rains one day in between the seven sunny days, then it will take eight days to produce a battery pack.
This is a great alternative to producing batteries during rainstorms. The weather is sunny more often than it is rainy, so you will likely be able to collect more battery packs. For more information, be sure to check out our full guide on battery packs.
That's all there is to know about the solar panel. Be sure to collect the necessary items for Caroline so you can build this piece of equipment.