Capatonia – a gamified approach to understanding electricity markets.

The energy market is changing rapidly due to the conflation of several issues. Limiting climate change requires us to reduce carbon emissions and thus reduce the use of fossil fuels; this need is already driving significant change. However, there are other factors which have impacted energy markets of late – corona and the potential supply disruption from gas flowing from Russia to Europe being two of the most prominent.

Significant investment has been made in replacement fuel sources for electricity generation; renewables are a key area of both capital expenditure and R&D.?

However, one of the key issues with the electricity supply network is the need to finely match supply and demand. This is easier with conventional fuels since increasing or decreasing electricity production is controllable. However wind, sun and (some) hydro power output is determined by the prevailing environmental conditions. The technology needed to store excess production is still in its infancy, meaning that supply/demand imbalances quickly lead to problems.?

A key challenge in the classroom is explaining how this complex marketplace works. Operations management concerns the short, medium and long term capacity strategy decisions that need to be made to match supply and anticipated demand.?

Rather than use ‘chalk and talk’, I created a game that asks students to build capacity in a simulated energy market of a single county. To do this, I sought out industry expertise and made extensive use of a contact who works within the European Union in Brussels to develop a realistic simulation.?

In the game, students play the role of energy generation companies. They are presented with data concerning tariffs (electricity prices), government subsidies for items such as R&D and green electricity, and are presented a forward view of forecast demand.?

The simulation worked brilliantly and allows students to understand and reflect on the complexities of the electricity generation market. In fact, the game worked so well that I’m writing a research paper to present at a conference – I have a track record of presenting award-winning pedagogical innovations, so this excites me!

I’m also going to develop the game further. So I’m looking for opportunities to use the game in the classroom again, a partner to create a platform that automates lots of the tasks currently done by spreadsheet, and a corporate who is in exec ed who would like to provide it for their clients.?

If you’re interested, then lets about how we could work together on this.