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Locationmajor

Solar Arrays

Solar Arrays is a remote industrial location in Jackson Plains, within the southern Badlands outside Night City.

Importancemajor

Key takeaways

  • Solar Arrays is in Jackson Plains, southern Badlands, south-east of Night City.
  • Its Fast Travel Dataterm is the location’s main permanent gameplay function.
  • Do not confuse it with Solar Power Station, a separate nearby Badlands fast-travel location and story-associated industrial site.
  • The surrounding desert is useful for exploration, hidden encounters, shards, graffiti and distant landmarks, but Solar Arrays itself has few conventional services.
  • The location is close to routes associated with Panam Palmer and the Aldecaldos, although the best-known power-station sequence takes place at a distinct facility.
  • In later base-game versions, the area is a useful starting point for investigating the Burning Man rock and nearby environmental mysteries.

About this guide

Scope: Cyberpunk 2077 base game, including content added through later base-game patches. Status: Research draft. The location is well established as a fast-travel point and as part of southern Badlands/Jackson Plains, but the game does not provide a clean, formal boundary description or a complete named-location catalogue for the whole surrounding area. Some minor objects and incidental encounters are therefore listed only where reliable evidence confirms them.

Overview

Solar Arrays is a remote industrial location in Jackson Plains, within the southern Badlands outside Night City. It is not the same place as the nearby Solar Power Station, although both belong to the same broad energy infrastructure of the Badlands and are easy to confuse on the map.

The area is dominated by broad fields of photovoltaic panels, access roads, transformer equipment and sparsely populated desert terrain. It is primarily a navigation landmark and fast-travel stop rather than a conventional settlement. Its importance comes from the surrounding Badlands environment, its proximity to several exploration sites, a Panam-related story route elsewhere in Jackson Plains, and a number of environmental details and side discoveries introduced or expanded in later versions of the game.

Solar Arrays is best treated as a named point within southern Badlands, not as a separate district or a synonym for the entire solar-farm region.

Location and boundaries

Solar Arrays lies in the southern section of the Badlands, in the broad Jackson Plains area. Jackson Plains is a large open region rather than a tightly bounded settlement. It includes industrial installations, roads, farms, desert approaches and scattered points of interest.

The practical boundary of Solar Arrays is the visible solar-panel field and its associated access infrastructure. The location should not be expanded to include all of Jackson Plains, the entire southern Badlands or every nearby transformer and roadside encounter. Those belong to the wider surrounding region unless the game or a source explicitly identifies them with Solar Arrays.

The area is easiest to recognise from a distance by its repeating rows of dark panels. The installation sits in otherwise open desert, with long sightlines and relatively little vertical cover. This makes it visually distinctive but also means that nearby encounters may be spread well beyond the fast-travel marker.

Included within the Solar Arrays location

The following are securely associated with the named location:

Nearby but separate

These places should not be merged into Solar Arrays:

The southern Badlands fast-travel route is normally presented as a chain of separate markers rather than one continuous named subarea. Solar Arrays appears between Las Palapas Motel and other southern Badlands facilities in map directories, while Solar Power Station is listed independently.

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Geography and visual character

Solar Arrays is an example of the Badlands’ industrial landscape. The installation contrasts with the densely built-up districts of Night City: instead of towers and elevated roads, the view is made up of flat desert, panel rows, substations and distant infrastructure.

The site is not a town, camp or public leisure area. There is no confirmed civic centre, residential block or commercial strip. Its presence is functional. The panels form part of the energy network that supports Night City and its surrounding settlements, while the wider Badlands show the environmental and industrial cost of maintaining that system.

The Badlands’ official in-game description presents the district as a collection of distinct zones, including plains, farms, power infrastructure, motels and desert wastelands. The same description places the region in a contested space between Nomad groups and large-scale corporate or industrial activity.

Named entries within the immediate location

The last three descriptions are functional descriptions of visible scenery rather than confirmed proper names. They should not be treated as official in-game names.

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Named entries within the immediate location

Access and routes

Reaching Solar Arrays

Solar Arrays is accessible by road from the southern Badlands network. The simplest approach is to use another southern Badlands fast-travel point and drive along the connecting roads. Because the surrounding terrain is open, it is also possible to approach across the desert, although this can make nearby points of interest harder to identify.

The location is not presented as a locked mission area. Once the Badlands are available for open exploration, V can travel there normally. No confirmed Street Cred threshold, quest prerequisite, vehicle requirement or attribute check is attached to the fast-travel point.

Useful approach routes

From Solar Power Station

This is the most thematically direct route through the region’s energy infrastructure. It allows the player to compare the large solar field with the separate power-station facility. Do not assume that reaching one automatically discovers the other. Each fast-travel marker must be approached and activated separately.

From Las Palapas Motel

This route follows the southern Badlands road network and is useful when combining Solar Arrays with motel, roadside and desert exploration.

From Tango Tors Motel

Tango Tors Motel is a useful western or south-western route landmark. It is also commonly listed as one of the nearest fast-travel references for the Burning Man rock area.

From the Badlands border

The south-western border route provides a long approach across open desert. This is visually rewarding but less efficient than fast travelling to a nearby marker.

Navigation advice

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Fast travel and facilities

The Solar Arrays Fast Travel Dataterm is the clearest permanent gameplay feature at the location. Approaching and activating it adds the point to V’s fast-travel network. Fast Travel Dataterms are used to move between discovered locations from the map.

There is no reliable evidence that Solar Arrays contains any of the following:

This is not proof that every decorative object has no interaction, only that no verified source establishes these services as part of the location.

Confirmed or strongly supported facility directory

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Residents, factions and security

Solar Arrays is not documented as having a named resident population. The wider Badlands are associated with Nomad clans, especially the Aldecaldos and Wraiths, but factional presence changes from site to site.

The Aldecaldos are associated with Panam Palmer and the Badlands story arc. Wraiths, also known as Raffen Shiv, operate in parts of the Badlands and appear in several hostile encounters. The district as a whole does not have one faction controlling every location.

Faction directory

There is no confirmed permanent NCPD checkpoint at Solar Arrays. The area is outside the dense urban policing structure of Night City, and hostile encounters in the surrounding desert are generally handled as local events rather than as a visible standing police presence.

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Missions and story connections

Panam’s Badlands storyline

Solar Arrays is geographically related to the Badlands energy installations used during Panam’s missions, but it should not be treated as the exact location of every solar-power sequence.

In “Lightning Breaks”, V and Panam travel to a power station to interfere with an AV convoy. The mission involves disabling or overheating equipment, dealing with security drones and using the facility to create an electromagnetic disruption. Reliable walkthroughs describe this as a distinct power-station sequence, not simply an interaction at the ordinary Solar Arrays fast-travel marker.

“Killing in the Name”

The side job “Killing in the Name” sends V to a Badlands location near the Solar Arrays fast-travel point during one of its investigation stages. The relevant objective involves locating another router and interacting with it, with Johnny Silverhand commenting on the situation.

The mission does not turn Solar Arrays into a conventional quest hub. Instead, the fast-travel point serves as a navigation reference for an outdoor investigation site nearby.

Mission directory

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Panam’s Badlands storyline: The practical lesson is important

  1. 01
    Solar Arrays is an open-world landmark.
  2. 02
    Solar Power Station is a separate named location.
  3. 03
    Panam’s story uses a power-station facility in the wider Jackson Plains/southern Badlands environment.
  4. 04
    Mission geometry and ordinary free-roam geography should not be assumed to be identical.

Items, shards and environmental discoveries

“Panel Job” shard

A readable shard titled “Panel Job” can be found on a Wraith’s body at a transformer station south-east of Solar Arrays, in Jackson Plains. Its text describes shutting down solar panels so that nearby lights go out, allowing a convoy ambush to take place in darkness.

The shard is not necessarily positioned inside the visible central panel field. Treat the transformer station as a nearby associated discovery rather than automatically part of the fast-travel site’s strict boundary.

Verified nearby discovery directory

Do not treat ordinary weapon drops, crafting components or enemy loot as unique Solar Arrays rewards unless a particular playthrough or mission guide verifies a fixed item.

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Nearby landmarks and exploration

Burning Man rock

The Burning Man rock is a separate environmental discovery south of Solar Arrays, in Jackson Plains. Community mapping places it roughly 750 metres south of Solar Arrays, with Tango Tors Motel also used as a nearby reference. The site contains several markings and is connected to the wider Burning Man environmental mystery discussion.

Because this information is primarily documented through community investigation rather than a formal official location guide, treat the distance as approximate rather than as an exact in-game measurement. The rock should not be included within Solar Arrays itself.

The Star tarot graffiti

Community location records place The Star tarot graffiti near the Solar Arrays area, across from or close to the array installation. The Star represents hope and guidance, fitting the Badlands’ recurring themes of escape, survival and finding a route home. The precise placement should be checked against an in-game map because third-party descriptions vary in how they define “near” Solar Arrays.

Nearby landmark directory

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Enemies and hazards

Solar Arrays itself is not consistently documented as a permanent combat arena. However, the wider area can contain hostile encounters, particularly involving Wraiths. Some encounters may be tied to a scanner activity, a shard location or an incidental outdoor event rather than to the fast-travel marker.

Combat advice

For Wraith encounters, use the panel rows and service structures as partial cover, but avoid assuming that the array itself is safe. Quickhacks, suppressed weapons and long-range rifles are effective in open terrain. Explosives can be useful against clustered vehicles, although they may destroy cover and make looting more difficult.

Enemy level, equipment quality and ordinary drops can vary according to V’s progression and game version. There is no verified fixed boss encounter permanently attached to Solar Arrays.

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Exploration route

The following route covers the confirmed and commonly associated discoveries without treating all of them as one location.

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Exploration route: steps

  1. 01
    Activate the Solar Arrays Fast Travel Dataterm. This establishes the location for future travel and gives you a reliable return point.

Exploration route: steps

  1. 01
    Walk the central panel field. Look for access roads, maintenance structures, terminals and visible loot. Do not assume every panel row has an interaction.

Exploration route: steps

  1. 01
    Search the south-eastern approaches. The transformer station containing the “Panel Job” shard is associated with this direction. Follow the roads rather than cutting directly across every panel row.

Exploration route: steps

  1. 01
    Read “Panel Job”. Check the Wraith body and nearby equipment carefully. The shard may be easier to miss during or immediately after combat.

Exploration route: steps

  1. 01
    Travel towards the Burning Man rock. Treat this as a separate destination. Use the Solar Arrays marker as a starting reference, not as proof that the rock lies within the location boundary.

Exploration route: steps

  1. 01
    Check for nearby tarot graffiti. Verify the position in your own game, particularly if using an older guide or a map made before later patches.

Exploration route: steps

  1. 01
    Continue to Solar Power Station only as a separate stop. If your objective concerns Panam’s power-station mission, use the mission marker or the Solar Power Station fast-travel marker rather than assuming Solar Arrays is the correct entrance.

Progression changes and game versions

Base game

Solar Arrays is available as part of the base-game Badlands map. Its fast-travel function and surrounding exploration do not require Phantom Liberty.

Panam progression

Panam’s missions can change the player’s relationship to the Badlands and introduce temporary or mission-specific scenes in nearby areas. These should not be interpreted as permanent changes to Solar Arrays unless the location visibly changes in the player’s version of the game.

Later patches

Later base-game updates added or formalised additional environmental discoveries and interactions across the open world. Community records associate the Burning Man rock and its related exploration with the modern version of the Badlands map. Because exact triggers and timing are not consistently documented in authoritative sources, this guide does not claim a universal activation condition.

Progression directory

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What Solar Arrays does not contain

To prevent common guide errors, Solar Arrays should not be described as:

The most common mistake is collapsing the entire surrounding solar-energy landscape into one location. The map contains several distinct named points, and the mission version of a power station is not automatically identical to the ordinary Solar Arrays marker.

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What Solar Arrays does not contain

Sources