Some insights I gained from writing and testing Sonnenwende.
1. Solar panels have become so cheap that electricity becomes worthless when the sun is shining. Hence, any government initiative giving guaranteed prices to solar power is mostly a waste of money better spent elsewhere.
2. This has the counterintuitive effect that a solar park owner will hope for cloudy weather, as clouds act as an involuntary cartel bringing prices up.
3. The hard part is having enough battery power during nights, especially in winter when the short days make it very challenging to charge your batteries.
4. Towards the end of the game, making money conflicts with reducing the share of fossil power, as the latter sets the electricity price. A successful transition to renewable energy production will likely require the implementation of different pricing mechanisms. If you have any (preferably peer-reviewed) ideas how this could work, I'd be happy to add them as an alternative scenario.
5. Hydrogen storage appears to lose out against battery storage when all costs are considered. Storing energy is cheaper for hydrogen, but hydrogen power is much more expensive per kW. This means hydrogen does not look like a cost-effective route towards renewable energy production (sorry, @bmftr_bund).
If you want to try it out yourself, you can play the game here: https://sonnenwende.codeberg.page/
More details and development information: https://codeberg.org/sonnenwende/sonnenwende
#sonnenwende #gaming #solarpunk #solar #renewables
Sonnenwende
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