Has power generation changed?

I had stopped playing for a long time, and have recently come back, i am liking the changes, but i seem to may have missed something with power.

last i played the best way was cubes that have intertwining parts that never touch (if you get my description)
these where hard and time consuming to build.

i had then moved to long lines with power capacitors between them so the long lines don't touch.
this seems to not be all that effective anymore on massive ships.

i recently finished a...

Has power generation changed?