I've always been dissatisfied with the fact that solar power is the only option in the early and mid tech tree, and recently had this idea. This is very simple: a sealed unit that consumes the solid fuel it comes with, presumably liberating energy from the slow burn of a long coiled fuse, or something to that effect. A total of 4000 EC can be produced at the standard fuel cell rate of 1.5/s. After use the part can only serve as an inefficient battery, and is expected to be jettisoned or replaced using Kerbal Attachment System.

It is cheaper and has a lower dry mass than the stock LFO cell, and becomes available with the Electrics node at the same time as the OX-STAT solar panel. It provides a relatively large amount of power to early probes, making them easier to handle and capable of nighttime operation. Also generally useful for emergency power, since unlike LFO cells its fuel can't be accidentally consumed by other parts.

Pro tip: Using the OSE Workshop mod you can build these cells in-situ very easily, and since they contain solid fuel they will come pre-fuelled and can be immediately used to produce power.

LICENCING: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This work is a derivative using an unmodified model and a modified texture from RLA Stockalike, originally created by hoojiwana. The derivative work creator wishes not to be credited, and waives the requirement of attribution for themself.

Licence text: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

RLA Stockalike: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/81386-11-rla-stockalike-134-25-apr/ https://spacedock.info/mod/178/RLA%20Stockalike