SunFarm
Build an energy empire, one sunny year at a time.
A turn-based strategy game about investing in renewable energy, built on a real simulation of solar-farm economics. Scout land across Australia, build solar and battery farms, sell into the National Electricity Market and outplay your rivals on returns.
Launch SunFarm ↗ sunfarm.fernielabs.com
Hypothesis
The idea
Every turn is one simulated year. You start with capital and a map of Australia. The question is simple: where, when, and how much do you build — and when do you sell?
Interest rates move, energy prices swing, panels wear out, and the best sites go fast. Good calls compound. Bad ones show up on the balance sheet. It plays like a game, but the numbers underneath are the ones the industry uses.
Procedure
How it works
Prospect
Read a map coloured by solar potential, grid distance, terrain, land cost and ROI. Lock in promising tiles.
Develop
Approvals and land agreements take a year. Plan ahead.
Build
Size solar, grid connection and optional battery storage, with a live capex estimate.
Operate
Sell at spot or sign a 5, 10 or 20-year PPA. Track generation, degradation and cash flow.
Trade
Buy and sell sites at any stage, priced against their NPV. Make offers on rivals’ assets.
Finance
Borrow at the current rate, park cash in savings, and watch the 5-year forecast.
Observations
Feature spotlight
Play together
Invite friends into a multiplayer game from the lobby, or join an open one. Everyone submits moves each turn; the orchestrator resolves them fairly and deterministically, and a live leaderboard ranks players on cumulative return, ROI and net worth.
The numbers before you commit
Each project’s NPV, payback period and cost breakdown sit next to every decision. Real discounting, debt and degradation models — not made-up game constants.
Perfectly replayable
Every game is event-sourced. The same seed and the same moves always produce the same outcome, down to the byte. Results can be audited, replayed and compared.
Findings
Why it’s different
Real maths
A standalone simulation engine kept to industry standards: discounting, debt, degradation.
Deterministic replay
Event-sourced games. Same seed, same moves, same result — every time.
Built to grow
Designed to ingest AEMO market and BOM weather data and model the wider grid.
Test subjects
Who it’s for
For
Strategy gamers
An economic sim with real stakes and no filler.
For
Students & educators
A hands-on way to learn project finance, energy markets and the energy transition.
For
Energy pros
A quick, competitive sandbox for testing intuition about sites, storage, PPAs and timing.
Roadmap
Lab Notes — where it’s heading
- Grow the engine into a serious energy-network simulation.
- Real historical weather and prices from AEMO and BOM.
- Models of every generator in the market, including coal, gas and existing plant.
- Analysis tools for real-world renewable investment, including community and debenture-funded projects.
The sun’s free. The returns aren’t.
Launch SunFarm ↗Other experiments
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