Let's make the station more maintenance intensive!

[BaneOfGiygas]

Remove the solar hotwire imo.

I agree.

Give the engineers a purpose again besides the fixing the station (which they never do anyway).

I partially agree. Maybe keep the solar hotwire around, but fix it to where it only powers the base essentials of the station (which is probably what they were intended to do anyways) while keeping some of the less necessary areas (telesci, artlab, pathology, the arcade, etc.) on a limited power supply? That way, the engine has a purpose beyond busywork and hellburns, but there's still a modicum of functionality if no one bothers to fix anything.