Subnautica 2 Deep-Sea Base Guide: Power and Oxygen Setup

Updated 2026-10-14: rewritten from the official Subnautica 2 wiki's Seabases, generator, Power Transmitter and Scanner Station pages. The previous version told players to build a "Fabrication module" first; Subnautica 2 has no such module. The upgrade is a seabase Fabricator, because the Lifepod's Fabricator is corrupted and can't make advanced recipes. We also replaced pages of "unconfirmed" notes with the actual generator numbers.

Subnautica 2 deep-sea base power: the four generators

Solar Panel: the one you can build from the start, since its blueprint comes with the Habitat Builder. Fine for a shallow first base. Skip it for anything deep: below 200m the panel still turns to face the suns but produces nothing.

Hydroelectric Turbine: our default for a deep base. Twelve energy a second around the clock is enough to run a Fabricator and a Scanner Station with room to spare. The catch is finding it: two blueprint fragments, the first pair on a platform near the Research Outpost at about 160m.

Thermal Plant: the highest ceiling. It gives one unit of energy below 25°C and climbs by one unit for every 5°C above that, so a plant on a properly hot vent outperforms a turbine. On a lukewarm site it's worse than solar. Read the temperature before you build.

Bioreactor: the backup. It runs anywhere inside the base, but it keeps burning fuel in Normal mode even when your other generators already cover demand, and anything you put in can't be taken out. Switch it off when the turbine is doing the work.

*Video: Subnautica 2 power guide, Primitive Nomad on YouTube*

How to link a turbine or thermal plant to your base

Turbines and Thermal Plants don't connect to a seabase by themselves. You need a Power Transmitter (1 Titanium, 1 Copper; scan one fragment to unlock it):

1. Build the first Power Transmitter attached to the seabase itself.
2. Place the generator in the current or on the hot spot.
3. Chain transmitters toward it. Each one adds 20m of range and needs line of sight to the next, so go around rocks, not through them.
4. Check the base's power before you leave. A beam that doesn't reach is the most common reason a "working" turbine powers nothing.

Transmitter fragments are easy to find early: Spires Wreck 1 at about 90m, outside the Tadpole Pens entrance at about 150m, and two spots near the Old Habitat under 50m.

Screenshot: Subnautica 2 (Unknown Worlds)

Budget your power before you build the room

Every machine draws from the same pool, and the big ones add up fast:

A Scanner Station alone eats more than a Solar Panel makes in daylight. That's why a deep base built on solar feels fine during the day and then goes dark: the night rate is about a quarter of the day rate, and below 200m there's no daytime at all.

Oxygen depends on it. A seabase produces oxygen only while it has power; when the power runs out, it stops, and you start losing oxygen even indoors. If your deep base is your air stop on long dives, give it a generator that doesn't care what time it is.

Where to put a deep base

Root Canyon in the Karakorum Ruins is the deepest biome you can reach in the current build, running from 364m to 750m. Its heat vents (two are marked at about 271m and 404m) are natural Thermal Plant sites. Two cautions before you commit:

• Leviathan zones. There are two Collector Leviathans, one over the Karakorum Metal Farms and one in the Intermediary Basin trench, and Leviathans can't be killed. A base inside a patrol zone means every commute starts with a chase. Our Collector Leviathan guide shows where they roam.
• The Early Access barrier. Past it is the Void, where a Shiver Leviathan and her males show up the moment you cross. See the Shiver Leviathan guide.

Your first compartment has to sit on or near the seabed; rooms after that can overhang, so a cliff edge over a current is a good spot for a turbine base. The biomes guide has the depth range for every zone.

Screenshot: Subnautica 2 (Unknown Worlds)

What to put inside a forward base

Keep it small. A seabase Fabricator is the reason to build one at all, because the Lifepod's Fabricator can't make the advanced recipes. Add lockers next to it: the Fabricator pulls ingredients straight from your inventory and from lockers in the base. A Scanner Station is worth its power draw at a forward base: it scans a 300m sphere for the resource you pick, and its filter upgrades come from Recipe Data Cards (the Anomaly and Biohacking Chamber filters are in the Lander Garage wreck). The Scanner Station guide covers the full filter list.

If you want to build your Tadpole down there too, you'll need a Moonpool with a Vehicle Fabricator on its edge; the vehicles guide walks through it.

Co-op bases

In co-op everyone shares the same base and its power. A Scanner Station, a Fabricator and a Vehicle Fabricator running together draw 17 energy a second, more than one turbine makes. Put two generators on a base you share with friends, and agree who switches the Bioreactor off. More on splitting jobs in the co-op guide.

Power bugs Unknown Worlds has already fixed

If an older video tells you turbines "just stop", check the date. The Buddy System update (August 19) fixed Hydroelectric Turbines that stopped producing after 120 to 160 minutes once you swam away, and Solar Panels that quit after 45 to 60 minutes in saves with several bases. Buddy System Hotfix 2 (October 6) fixed turbines producing the wrong amount after being streamed out and back in. If your power still drops, rebuild the transmitter link before you blame the generator.

Mistakes we see

• Solar on a deep base. Below 200m it produces nothing.
• Turbine with no transmitter. It spins and powers nothing until a transmitter attached to the base reaches it.
• Bioreactor left on Normal. It burns fuel whether you need the power or not.
• A Thermal Plant on a cold site. Under 25°C it makes 1 energy a second.
• Building in a Collector zone. You can't kill it, so move the base, not the Leviathan.

How we checked this

Numbers come from the official Subnautica 2 wiki pages for Seabases, Fabricator, Scanner Station, Power Transmitter, Solar Panel, Hydroelectric Turbine, Thermal Plant, Bioreactor, Root Canyon, Collector Leviathan and Shiver Leviathan, read on 2026-10-14. Early Access patches can change generator output.

Related Reading

• Subnautica 2 Base Building Guide: First-base placement, module priorities, and early-game setup before tackling the advanced systems covered here.
• Subnautica 2 Vehicles Guide: Tadpole, Moonpool and Vehicle Fabricator setup for a base that builds its own sub.
• Subnautica 2 Biomes Guide: Depth ranges, terrain maps, and threat profiles for scouting base 2 and base 3 sites before building.
• Subnautica 2 DNA Modification Guide: Why creature scanning near your Root Canyon base should influence where you place a forward base.
• Subnautica 2 Complete Guide Hub: Index of all Subnautica 2 guides covering survival, vehicles, co-op, and progression.
• Subnautica 2 Tips: First Steps, Base Building, and Co-op: Subnautica 2 tips for your first hours of Early Access: no-map navigation, when to build.
• Subnautica 2 Beginner Guide: Systems, Survival, First Hours: Subnautica 2 beginner guide: oxygen, DNA modification, food, base timing, and the 5 mistakes new.
• Subnautica 2 Oxygen Guide: Dive Planning and Survival: Subnautica 2 oxygen management explained: tank upgrade path, when to turn back, depth zones, Tadpole.
• Subnautica 2 Leviathan Guide: Avoid, Scan, Survive: Subnautica 2 leviathan encounters: patrol patterns, safe scanning range for confirmed EA Leviathans.

References

• Subnautica 2 on Steam: store page and Early Access updates
• Seabases (official Subnautica 2 wiki): power sources and oxygen production
• Power Transmitter (official Subnautica 2 wiki): range, line of sight and fragment spots
• Thermal Plant (official Subnautica 2 wiki): output by temperature
• Hydroelectric Turbine (official Subnautica 2 wiki): output, recipe and fragments
• Subnautica 2 Base Building Guide: first-base placement and setup