Base feature question

I’m playing this game for the first time and spent 25 hours so far.

I’ve reached big bulky bug after lifting security measures (which I killed). During my travels throughout the game I’ve noticed few places have power sockets. Which leads me to believe I can setup base there.

But why? I can reach any department from starting area via rails. What’s the point of creating small bases especially after building “teleport to crafting bench device”?

One more question, if I use power sockets in dimension portal, would it stop working during night hours?