This paper presents the design of the offshore energy simulation CEL as a flow network, and its integration in the MSP Challenge 2050 simulation game platform. This platform is designed to aid learning about the key characteristics and complexity of marine or maritime spatial planning (MSP). The addition of CEL to this platform greatly AIDS MSP authorities in learning about and planning for offshore energy production, a highly topical and big development in human activities at sea. Rather than a standard flow network, CEL incorporates three additions to accommodate for the specificities of energy grids: an additional node for each team's expected energy, a split of each node representing an object into input and output parts to include the node's capacity, and bidirectional edges for all cables to enable more complex energy grid designs. Implemented with Dinic's algorithm it takes less than 30ms for the simulation to run for the average amount of grids included in an MSP Challenge 2050 game session. In this manner CEL enables MSP authorities and their energy stakeholders to use MSP Challenge 2050 for designing and testing more comprehensive offshore energy grids.
The MSP (Marine Spatial Planning) Challenge Simulation Platform uses game technology and role-play to support communication and learning for Marine and Maritime Spatial Planning. Since 2011, a role-playing game, a board game and a digital interactive simulation platform have been developed. The MSP Challenge Simulation Platform editions have been used in workshops, conferences, education, as well as for real life stakeholder engagement. The researchers give an overview of the development of the MSP Challenge Simulation Platform and reflect on the value of the approach as an engaging and ‘fun’ tool for building mutual understanding and communicating MSP. We apply MSP Challenge Simulation Platform in workshops and demos to help develop a global learning MSP community. Funding: NorthSEE, Baltic LINes, the Scottish Government, thanks to SIMCelt.
