I've been somewhat plagued by the real lack of technical explanations about how the 'Zero Point' energy widgets work to create power for the Aethernaughts in Iron Stars, so I submit the following....

ZERO POINT ENERGY GENERATION:
The same interaction that enables us to move through space, allows us to absorb the power that drives the cosmos.

Aether pervades all existence, as 'nature abhors a vaccum' - but the presence of matter lessens it's interactions by 'shorting out' the Aetheric energy at the atomic level. Unlike space travel, there is no vaccum in the engineering spaces, so a vaccum chamber must be used - in the case of a large, power hungry Aethernaught, this chamber must be huge - in fact, several are usually required.

Aether can be 'charged', only in the presence of high levels of neutronic radiation, in a vaccum, by microwave-level radio waves and a high electron-volt potential. The neutrons are the 'glue' that enables the strong nuclear force (the prime component of Aether interactions) to extend it's influence, the microwaves heat the Aether to spread out the effect more effectively, and the Voltage imparts the charge that allows any interaction between the physical world and the Aether.

In order to 'grab' Aether, you must have relative motion between
'charged' Aether and electrically-conductive matter that also has high radiation emission and a high voltage charge.

The question is, how to get power from it?

As it turns out, the Brownian Motion of Aether is quite energetic. All that is required is to create an appropriate chamber, equip it with a small version of the mechanical ether props, and use the rotational energy to drive an electrical generator. The generator is given an initial push by a small, external electrical motor to start it. Generated power (ie the shaft speed) is regulated by the rotor static charge, microwave emitter power, or both.