SMART resource-friendly Hydrogen-Coal generator combo

• Are you burning through your coal?
  
• Want a more 'resource conserving' energy production?
  
• You don't have access to late game stuff such as solar panels and steam vent power, etc.?

If any of the above questions is 'yes', this guide will save your day! :)

It is a 'Hydrogen Generator' and 'Coal Generator' combo that is smartly automated to preserve your precious coal AND select PRIMARILY Hydrogen to fill your batteries, if possible!

The following research needs to be done before you can set this up:

• (Power) -> "Sound Amplifiers", so you can build the "Smart Battery"
  
• (Power) -> "Advanced Power Regulation", so you can build the "Hydrogen Generator"
  
• (Computers) -> "Advanced Automation", so you have access to "OR Gate" and "AND Gate"
  
• (Liquids) -> "Air Systems", so have access to "Electrolizer"

Some of these are 'Advanced research', but not extremely far down the tree, so this is very easy to have at mid-game, or even before that.

STEP 1:
Switch to making Oxygen with the 'Electrolizer'. This produces Hydrogen gas. The gas floats up (towards the top left of your base). Ensure it settles in one or another corner, where you can easily collect it. (Or keep it contained in a room if you like).

STEP 2:

• Place two 'Smart Batteries' (next to each other) in the location where you want to create your 'power plant'
  
• Build one or more Hydrogen Generators to the LEFT of the batteries.
  
• Build one or more Coal Generators to the RIGHT of the batteries.

(I would start with one Hydrogen Generator and add more if it becomes apparent your power consumption isn't able to keep up with the accumulation of Hydrogen)
Two or three Coal Generators may be good to start with, but it all depends on how power-hungry your electricity network is. You can expand on both sides of the batteries as needed. STEP 3:
Build something like this (because a picture says more than a thousand words) :
Some important notes with this:

• There's a 'Gas Element Sensor' (set to detect 'Hydrogen') which needs to be near the pump, so the system can correctly know if there's Hydrogen to be pumped or not. This controls the pump, too.
  
• IMPORTANT! The RIGHT 'Smart Battery' should have its 'Low Threshold' value set to ZERO
  
• IMPORTANT! The LEFT 'Smart Battery' should have its 'Low Threshold' value set to e.g. 20 or a bit higher if you want to. This makes the 'Hydrogen Generator' kick in (if there's Hydrogen) before it would resort to consuming coal.
  
• If more 'Hydrogen Generators' are connected (to the left), link them together with the other one(s) using 'Automation wire'
  
• If more 'Coal Generators' are connected (to the right), link them together with the other Coal Generators using 'Automation wire'
  
• The Hydrogen can be transported from far away, or entirely different locations in relation to the Generator setup you see on the picture, as long as the Hydrogen Generator will just get Hydrogen when it needs it.
  
• The lay-out of the Generators+Batteries can be changed to your liking as well, but I chose for a nice compact setup, where the automation part is also hidden mostly behind the machinery. This leaves room for paintings and whatnot AND reduces need for extra Automation wire length.
  
• Don't forget to add the electric wires! Just connect all these up together and your system is 'go'! (I used the cheapest wire in the example, but you may want to go for Conductive Wire instead, or even heavier wire, depending on how much power you're sending over the wires. :)

WHAT THIS DOES:

• 1. If the batteries are full or still at a good level, no Hydrogen/Coal are consumed.
  
• 2. If the batteries go low: While there's Hydrogen available, ONLY the Hydrogen Generator(s) will start feeding the batteries.
  
• 3. If the batteries go empty: The Coal Generators start kicking in

So there's a priority on that the system uses ONLY Hydrogen while it can (unless your system is so hungry that it depletes the batteries entirely even with Hydrogen Generator running, because then you do need the Coal backup to kick in). Coal is only used when it's needed.

Happy Energy Generating!