When you build a beacon at level 2 or higher and select and apply a level 2 (or higher) primary power you can remove the surronding blocks and the effect stays selected. The beacon grants this effect as long as it is activated even if the current beacon level is lower than the level required to select the effect.

This means that a high level beacon effect doesn't require a lot of blocks and rather only selection does. There's absolutely no reason for you to take everything except for the nine top blocks away from the beacon and use it otherwise.

High-Level powers return when re-entering the beacon's range, re-activating the beacon or re-starting the server.

Video: https://streamja.com/XkwVW