I feel the energy grid is in a somewhat redundant spot currently, from a mechanical standpoint, in that its so easy and cheap to link that it becomes a no-brainer to just build all your econ in the back of your base and link mexes to it, which I feel is significantly less interesting than if players were encouraged to spread their econ over the map.
It also doesn't create interesting raiding opportunities because energy pylons are too cheap, spread too far apart, and explode too hard, which ironically tends to hurt the attackers more than the defenders. I never raid for pylons nor see anyone doing that. The brief interruption in the enemy's overdrive you might manage is not worth the attention cost and the metal cost of the raiding party, which you might have well lost in the explosion to boot.
I'd propose removing the "grid" aspect of the energy grid entirely, odd as it may sound. Instead give all mexes and energy-powered defenses their own unlinkable grid. They can pull energy from energy generation structures inside this individual grid only. This would force players to spread their energy production across the map for the best overdrive efficiency.
I'm thinking the range of these mex/weapon grids could be about the same as a current pylon, or slightly smaller. The idea is that the energy structure has to be near the mex/weapon, but not necessarily adjacent.
One might ask: "Why not just nerf pylons". Because that would make linking the grid more annoying than it currently is since you would need to use more solar/wind lines. Building energy near mexes isn't annoying, its just strategically complex.
