Models in the platform

Energy model

The default North Sea and Baltic Sea editions of MSP Challenge have an energy simulation running in the background.

The core energy simulation software is generic (meaning it doesn't depend on a specific region) and was developed by Breda University of Applied Sciences' Kevin Hutchinson, based on collaborations with several colleagues (notably Carlos Santos and Wilco Boode) and external advisors (notably Lodewijk Abspoel and Thomas Aksan). As a separate application, it takes input data from the MSP Challenge server on the different energy grids implemented within the edition at hand, calculates how much of the maximum capacity generated can actually reach the applicable country or countries given the energy infrastructure, and feeds back that output data to the server again. This is again done each simulated month, making this another discrete-event simulation. The application that handles this energy input, throughput and output is called CEL.

This system relies on energy grids implemented in the edition at hand through the MSP Challenge client software. This means that if there are no energy grids at the start of an MSP Challenge session (so no offshore wind farms, for example), then CEL will have nothing to calculate. This is why the default North Sea and Baltic Sea editions of MSP Challenge have so-called starting plans in place that implement a large set of energy grids (country-specific offshore wind farms complete with cables connecting them to landing stations) before the session starts.

• Read more about CEL's design and implementation in this paper (https://pure.buas.nl/en/publications/an-offshore-energy-simulation-through-flow-networks-c el-within-th) written for and presented at the ESM 2018 conference in Ghent, Belgium.

Ecosystem model

The default North Sea, Baltic Sea and Clyde marine region editions of MSP Challenge each have their own bespoke ecosystem model and simulation running in the background.

In each case the ecosystem model was developed with the well-established free and open source software Ecopath-with-Ecosim (EwE) (http://www.ecopath.org) The MSP Challenge server feeds input data into the EwE model, after which the EwE model runs one simulated month, in order to feed back relevant output data to the MSP Challenge server again. This process turns the EwE model into a discrete-event ecosystem simulation. The software component that does this is called MEL, standing for MSP Challenge - EwE - Link. The overall ecosystem simulation thus depends on the combination of MEL, the EwE platform itself, and the specific EwE ecosystem model made with that platform.

• Read more about the technical design and implementation of MEL in this design document (https://pure.buas.nl/en/publications/msp-challenge-2050-ecopath -link-design-document).
• Read more about the overall design and implementation of the North Sea and Clyde marine region EwE models, as well as their integration within the MSP Challenge simulation platform in this paper [not published yet].
• Read more about the overall design and implementation of the Baltic Sea EwE model, as well as it's integration within the MSP Challenge simulation platform in this paper [not published yet].