Electricity and Renewable Energy

[naoisemct]

I have been considering a way of adding renewable energy (solar/wind/wave power) to the game. I think this would be useful as not only would it reflect the real-world push for development but also reflect the effect they will have of geopolitics as energy production changes.

The idea would be that non-oil/gas/coal producing nations could produce domestic energy and also that oil/gas/coal producers can be bypassed in importance i.e. not only can China mitigate it's lack of large oil/gas reserves, it can also bypass American and Russian influence by investing in renewables in other countries.

It will also reflect the decreasing power of oil/gas producing countries in geopolitical terms as the century progresses i.e. the lessening importance of control of Middle Eastern countries if oil dependency also decreases.

To do this I would add a factory that would have an output good of heating & electricity but have an input of steel, electrical gear and glass (reflecting both solar and wind energy). The idea of the factory would be that it would have a high building cost (3-4 times a normal heating/electricity factory) but a low running cost i.e. needing high investment but requiring a small amount of upkeep. It would be triggered by the Sustainable Energy technology in the Tech Power section of the Industrial Tree.

Included in this plan would be to add a small heating and electricity cost to inputs for all factories to reflect the importance of electrical power in the modern world.

The template for the factories would look something like this:

renewable_energy_factory = {
template = factory_template input_goods = {
steel = 10
glass = 10
electric_gear = 10 heating_electricity = 10 } output_goods = heating_electricity value = 150 bonus = { trigger = { has_building = steel } value = 0.125 } }

---

renewable_energy_factory = {
type = factory on_completion = factory completion_size = 0.2 max_level = 255 cost = 0 goods_cost = { cement = 180 machine_parts = 240 fuel = 240 } time = 365 visibility = yes onmap = no

production_type = heating_electricity_factory
pop_build_factory = yes
advanced_factory = yes

}

[simsulla]

In the upcoming 2.00, the factory system has changed somewhat. There is something called advanced_heating_electricity_factory that could in some respects be consider as a renewable etc. Will add some naming/text on it.

[naoisemct]

I still think a energy source without the usual energy rgo would be interesting (with a higher investment price) would be interesting in out manoeuvring energy rgo producing nations.

[simsulla]

I see your point. Renewable energy (solar/wind/wave power) are available at multiple locations.

[simsulla]

Moridin997

May I suggest 'Electricity' as a consumer good?

As the Cold War reached its end, the need for electricity in industry was being decisively overtaken by the exponentially rising energetic needs of the world's growing urban population, with all its new technological gadgets become ever more commonplace.

This would create a (small) check on the unfettered growth of developed countries in the mod, while integrating very well with many of the industrial goods and allowing a representation of renewable energy as a phenomenum of the 21st century. Might also be a very interesting and plausible challenge to oil-rich countries by 2020-2050, present many interesting foreign investment opportunities for capital-abundant economies in developing countries and be a way for small countries to regain some footing other than going on an implausible conquering rampage...

simsulla

I like the idea. In the upcoming 2.00, Heating and Electricity (maybe to be renamed just Electricity) is such goods, and I will look into that it has a more broader usage. One hold back with electricity though is that it is not that big of a international trade goods. The international trade goods is the primary energy source (coal, oil).

[naoisemct]

Could a fix be creating a renewable path through fuel? That way you would be trading the goods to create energy (solar panels, wind turbines) instead of actual energy. Remove Heating and Electricity as a good, make fuel a consumer good and a requirement for all factories. Have a fossil fuel, nuclear and renewable way of creating fuel. That way say China could flood the markets with renewables and invest in renewable factories to circumvent US-Middle East fuel supply, US could invest in fossil fuel factories to see this off.