The realistic setting of the game allows students to run power plants, negotiate with government authorities and banks (including calculating generation costs on the spot and asking for bank loans), get involved in trading processes, design business strategies, etc. The simulated power generators are affected by changing weather conditions and power-plant outages due to natural impacts. The companies involved were forced to compensate for the fallouts by trading and finding new strategies to get out of the red numbers – some of them nearly went bankrupt!
The simulation was accompanied by so-called transfer sessions, with discussions and reflections on the game as well as talks about current – real-world – developments on the energy market.
The simulation experience was valuable and fun for everyone involved, not only the students, but also the ProAcomm team, Professor Weidlich and Professor Treffinger (who took over the roles of bank and government representatives).
We look forward to next year’s EnergyNext!
International Center
Simulated energy business management – with real success!
On 17-18 January this year, for the third time, ECM students participated in EnergyNext, a web-based simulation game, gaining hands-on insights into the workings of the energy market as part of their lecture on Energy Economics.
