About the game
In the Electricity Strategy Game, (teams of) players play as Scheduling Coordinators, entities responsible for supplying the market with electricity. Their primary goal is to make more money than the other players.
The game has two primary phases: the portfolio auction and the hourly spot markets. Each team owns one portfolio of power generation units. Portfolios are usually asymmetric; the number of units per portfolio varies, and the units themselves are usually unique. The units and portfolios involved in this game instance can be found portfolios file. Portfolios are assigned through a portfolio auction (traditionally a live English auction). Players finance this initial acquisition by taking on debt (effectively a negative starting balance).
After all the portfolios have been auctioned off, the hourly spot markets begin. Players now have the opportunity to make money selling their generated electricity to the market. The hourly spot markets occur over the course of a set number of days, with a set number of hours scheduled to occur each day. During each hour, players submit bid prices on a per-unit basis. These prices represent the price per megawatt-hour (MWh) the player would have to be paid in order to activate that unit's power generation capabilities. Once all players have submitted their bids for an hour, the administrator 'runs' the hour.
A supply curve is constructed from the market-wide bids (from all players), and the market-wide demand curve is constructed from the parameters provided in the game schedule file. Units 'below' the demand curve are activated; units 'above' the demand curve are 'too expensive' and are not activated, as the market will not pay for those bids. Activated units incur their variable production costs; all units incur operations and maintenance costs regardless of their activation status. Units that are activated sell their electricity. The price they receive depends on the hour's auction type: in a discrete price hour, the unit receives its bidded price per MWh; in a uniform price hour, the highest activated price per MWh will be paid for all active units, regardless of their submitted bid price. The revenues and costs are then recorded for each player. An additional interest factor is incurred at the start of each day. The interest rate, among other settings, is set in the game settings file.
The game engine also supports an additional feature: adjustment bidding. Based on the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) adjustment bidding procedure, this feature reflects the geographic realities of power transmission and the importance of location-specific production and demand. More details regarding adjustment bidding can be found in the project repository. If adjustment bids are not enabled, disregard this section.
About the app
This app was designed and implemented by Benjamin Lee. The app is written with Flask in Python 3. The frontend style is derived from Skeleton. The app was preceded by Ethan Knight's implementation of the ESG, which in turn was based on the UC Berkeley Electricity Strategy Game by Severin Borenstein and Jim Bushnell. Specifications were drawn from that implementation as well as conversations with Patrick Berger. Adjustment bidding mechanics were implemented according to designs by Christopher Martin, Steven Raanes, Merritt Vassallo, and Aidan Wen, who in turn referenced numerous CAISO documents and resources in their design process.
For more information, see the project's GitHub repository. Contact your game administrator(s) with any questions or concerns, especially with regards to instance-specific issues (e.g. login issues, game initialization, config files, etc.). If you're an admin with questions or concerns of your own, dm me @benjamin_lee on Telegram.