How to generate and connect power in StarRupture

For a game all about building ever-expanding production lines, StarRupture stumbles at the first step: creating a power grid to sustain it. It's explained briefly in the tutorial, but generating electricity and working out how to connect power to said machinery isn't all that intuitive, despite how simple it is on paper.

If you've been placing Ore Excavators and other key machines willy-nilly, and they're not turning on despite having an army of solar panels, then you know something's wrong.