Thermal Solar Power (Lite)

This is a fork of the mod Thermal Solar Power by MarximusMaximus, CyberWizard2261 and Caxx. It is meant to be a more focused, balanced and realistic take on solar thermal energy that incorporates a (slightly) challenging heat loss mechanism. Many buildings and/or tiers thereof have been removed, but new features have been added, while visuals have been improved. A few technical issues were resolved as well.

The main purpose of the mod is to provide an aesthetically pleasing renewable energy alternative to solar + accu + power lines, which I find visually unappealing. It is available early on, but remains relevant in the late-game, without breaking game balance or rendering alternatives obsolete.

Main assets: The mod adds the Thermal Solar Panel (+ a large version) which generates heat from sunlight, but dissipates it slowly during the night; the Basic Heat Exchanger which produces 165°C steam from water and heat; and a Basic Heat Pipe of humble properties.

New features: Panel heat dissipation, configurability, a bit of mod integration (for Quality in Space Age, Pyanodons Coal Processing, Early Heating and Cheese's Concentrated Solar), and a fix to recognize surface solar intensity.

Improved visuals/gui: Created AI-upscaled & retouched graphics + simple shadows for the Thermal Solar Panels, nice coloring for the Basic Heat Exchanger. Created a makeshift sunlight indicator that is visible when the gui is open (UPS-friendly). Improved inventory item visuals, sounds and ordering. Made tooltip properly display current max. heat energy output. Fixed various graphical issues.

Debugging & info: Added various helpful commands, most notably /tspl info (contains rather basic info for now).

Balancing:

The Thermal Solar Panel slowly dissipates heat in proportion to its temperature above 15°C, so other energy storage is necessary for minimizing heat energy loss. Since the panels take a while to heat up again to 165°C in the morning, their productive window is only about 52.5% (rather than 70%) of the day cycle at full utilization, making power outages more consequential. Heating steam to higher temperatures is wasteful, so don't bother! Large fields also have slightly lower efficiency due to heat mechanics, so its best to keep modules fairly small, like in the screenshot above.
With each panel outputting 67.5kW of heat energy by default, 27 small panels will reliably power 1 Basic Heat Exchanger + 1 Steam Engine around the clock, given sufficient steam storage (at least ~5.6k units).
A thermal solar complex takes up about the same space as Solar + Accu, while having overall simpler and lower material requirements, making it the better option for reliable, large-scale power production. But it also requires water, takes a while to get going, and has quite low discharge rate. This positions Solar + Accu as a more expensive but convenient solution, which seems to fit well with the game's design philosophy.

Various Remarks: Of the entire solar thermal complex, only the steam engines need to be connected to the electric grid, which is very nice. Energy can be stored in the form of steam to deal with intermittency, and coal-fired boilers easily integrate with the same steam engines to provide backup power. Space-saving!

Mod recommendations: Extra Storage Tanks: Tiny Storage Tanks allows for more compact setups with its 1x1 storage tanks. Fluid Level Indicator can help you keep tabs on your steam storage. And if you would like a serious upgrade to the solar thermal complex, check out Cheese's Concentrated Solar.

Also read the FAQ about design choices, compatibility, and performance impact.