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Decision making under uncertainty

Uncertainty is inherent in each and every forecast. Not considering uncertainty is just ignoring a fact that is present in every released weather- and/or energy forecast.
By dealing with uncertainties in our own specific and individual application, we can make better decisions, as we do no longer put responsibility to those that have no possibility to evaluate the uncertainty a certain forecast may cause in your own application.
Dealing with uncertainties means taking responsibility and opens a whole new world of possibilities!

The IEA Wind Task 36 provides here a collection of probabilistic forecasting games in order to

  1. Discuss
  2. Educate
  3. Inspire

…the energy and meteorology community for the development, deployment and communication of uncertainties of weather and energy forecasts to end-users for better decision-making.

 

For this reason, the IEA Wind Task 36 and 51 promotes testing and playing with forecast games to get a “feel” of where the hidden possibilities are to improve the industry’s decision-making.

The list below is composed of our own developed games and games developed in cooperation or by cooperating institutions, researchers or companies. Anybody is invited to play and to contribute with links or feedback to the coordinating team leader Corinna Möhrlen.

We also list accompanying material to the games – publications can also be seen in our Publication Protal

Forecasting Games

Forecast Game

Short Description

Link

Wind Power Trading decisions for a Wind Park in complex Terrain

IEA Wind Task 36/51 and MPI for Human Development have released a forecast game at the European Meteorological Society Annual Conference 2021.

The game investigates how ensemble forecasts showing forecast uncertainty can improve our ability to make informed decisions, also when the weather conditions are complex or extreme.

In the experimental game, the player is asked to make trading decisions for a wind farm in complex terrain in a number of situations based on deterministic and probabilistic power and wind forecasts.

 

Forecast Game (choose “Play the Game” at top menu)

Forecast Game Results

Links to additional material:

WIW2022: Key Note
Presentation

EMS 2022: Presentation

AMS 2022: Presentation

Electric-City 2021:
Paper & award winning Poster

EMS 2021: Presentation

IEA Task 36 Webinar
Youtube & Presentation

 

Wind Power Trading decisions for an Offshore Wind Park

IEA Wind Task 36 and MPI for Human Development have released a forecast game at the IEA Wind Task 36 Glasgow workshop in Jan 2020.

The game investigates how useful different forecasts are for wind power trading decisions in a simplified way.In the game, the player is asked to make trading decisions for an offshore wind farm in the Northsea in a number of situations based on deterministic and probabilistic power and wind forecasts.

Forecast Game (offline version to come soon)

Forecast Game Results

Forecast game introduction presentation:

IEA Wind Task 36 YouTube channel at time: 3:03:00.

Presentation Download

 

Publications:
MetApplications, 2022
J.of Phys. Conf Series 2021

Call for Water Game

In the game the player is managing a water supply reservoir!

Purpose of the Game is to train with forecast information and improve decision-making.

The player is newly appointed water manager for a reservoir that serves water uses for a town and is responsible to secure sufficient water for the town at a specific time.

The game is played in two rounds of 5 years each.

Forecast Game

License conditions Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0

 

HEPEX Forecast Game
“Pathways to running a flood forecasting centre: an adventure game”

The game simulates the responsibilities of a water management centre in charge of protecting a city against floods.

The game is investigting what kind of information is needed and how many days in advance the forecast information is good enough to make a decision that could save lives and money.

Forecast Game

A blog post on the game was published in the Imprex project website

Reference: Arnal et al. (EGU 2017 abstract)

Feuerwache
(only available in German)

The game’s aim is to well users understand and are able to make use of the uncertainty of weather forecasts

The task of the game is to decide on 16 days, whether or not to request more firefighters for the next 21 hours to handle additional missions in predicted storm events.

Forecast Game

 

Offline Games

HEPEX Forecast Games

Water Management Game

The game experiment focuses on risk-based decision-making in water management using probabilistic forecasts of inflows to a reservoir Download:
English (original version), German Reference: Crochemore et al., 2015 HEPEX blog post

Peak Box Game

The “Peak Box” game supports interpretation and verification of operational ensemble peak-flow forecasts, proposed by Zappa and colleagues, and encourages discussions of the use of ensemble predictions in operational hydrology.

The Peak-Box defines the “best estimate” of a flood event’s timing and magnitude by framing the discharge peaks of all members of an ensemble forecast and taking their median in timing and magnitude.

Download: Peak Box Game

Reference: Zappa et al., 2013

HEPEX blog post

Pay-for-a-forecast Game

This game was originally created as a paper game to be played during the Ensemble hydro-meteorological forecasting session at the EGU Assembly in 2015. It was designed to contribute to the understanding of the role of probabilistic forecasts in decision-making processes and to look at the perceived value of the forecasts by the decision-makers for flood protection mitigation.

This was achieved by giving the participants a set of probabilistic forecasts of their river level, with which they had to decide whether to buy flood protection. The participants’ willingness-to-pay for probabilistic forecasts was also evaluated during the game through an auction, where forecasts were no longer given but sold, and in a limited number.

Download (play with paper version): Pay for a forecast game

Download (play online version): Online Pay-for-a-forecast game instructions

Reference: Arnal et al., 2016
HEPEX blog post

 

Flood Control Game

The game is about the management of a flood protection constract, where the user has to manage a gate which is the inlet of a retention basin with the help of deterministic and probabilistic forecasts of the river water level.

The user has to decide whether to open the gate or not.

Download

For more information and other languages check the HEPEX page

Paper: “Do probabilistic forecasts lead to better decision making”

 

The Shopkeepers dilemma: a decision-making game using probabilistic forecasts

In the game, three different shop-keepers were presented with a series of seven forecasts, each providing participants with the forecast probability that they and their shop could be flooded. They are asked to make one of three decisions for each forecast; choosing between taking no action; raising temporary defences on the embankment between their shop and the river; or moving their inventory. Except for doing nothing, all actions came at a cost. But flooding also caused a loss. Download: Shopkeepers Dilemma Game

EGU 2017 Abstract and Poster (PDF)

HEPEX blog post

 

Corinna Möhrlen, WEPROG

Corinna Möhrlen

Workstream Leader

Workstream Lead
Corinna Möhrlen
WEPROG, Weather and Energy Prognoses

LinkedIn

www.weprog.com

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