Content

Editorial from the European Energy Student Network

The Idea behind the European Energy Student Network

Images worth a Thousand Words from 1st European Energy Student

Conference

Simulating the European Energy Transition

Motivation

Background

The Game

Testimonials

Results

Conclusions & Recommendations

Conclusions & Next Steps for the European Energy Student Network

Cover page images from top left corner: (1) Green energy, by senza senso; (2) Saint-Laurent-Nouan (Loir-et-Cher), by

Daniel Jolivet; (3) DSC_0294_pp, by Walter; (4) Dong Energy Avedore power station 20140103_004, by News Oresund;

(5) Solar fotovoltaica a Picanya Som Energia, by Som Energia Cooperativa; (6) Lac d’Emosson, by will_cyclist.

Full page image 1:Renewable, by: Shella Sund

Full page image 2: Cloudfactory II; by: Patrick Pekal

Shared under Attribution only Creative Commons.

All other images and content in this document are propriety of the European Energy Student Network. The European Energy

Student Network declines all responsibility for the opinions and comments of its members, participants or guests.

Kedar Deshpande

Marina Dorokhova

Carlos Hernández

Catarina Neves

Alejandro Núñez

Katia Paramonova

Rhythima Shinde

Editorial from the

European Energy Student Network

Europe aims at leading the world in the sustainable energy transition to fight climate change.

The first industrial revolution birthplace now aspires to pioneer the global shift to a

sustainable, secure and affordable energy model. We are here to help Europe succeed.

Europe is home to gas, oil, coal, nuclear and renewable centered national energy mixes.

Europe also hosts some of the brightest students from all over the world in its top level

universities. Hence, Europe tries to employ the latter to transform the former in its pursuit of

a more perfect solution to the energy trilemma, and we aim at contributing to its goals.

We, the European Energy Student Network (EESN), aim at developing a network between

energy practitioners, academics, policy makers and energy students and young professionals

to better address the challenges faced by the energy sector. Although the digital revolution

has forever changed our ways of communicating, direct, personal interaction remains, in our

view, the best way for exchanging ideas and forging lasting bonds.

Therefore, the European Energy Student Network organizes an annual conference where

students and young professionals from the different energy fields gather and interact with

practitioners, academics, and policy makers. This report presents the outcomes from the 1st

EESN Annual Conference held during the May 20-21, 2016 at the Swiss Federal Institute of

Technology of Lausanne (EPFL).

We want to thank the Energy Business, Policy and Technology Group at EPFL for their

outstanding work organizing the EESN Annual Conference 2016.We want to thank as well the

sponsors that made it possible: EPFL Middle East Section, EPFL Energy Center and the Swiss

Federal Office of Energy.

Sincerely,

The EESN Strategy Team

The Idea behind the

European Energy Student Network

The Challenge

Meeting the complex energy trilemma goals of energy security, sustainability, and equity,

requires a collective effort. No single country or firm can do it on their own.

The stronger, tighter and better formed the human networks are across countries, energy

industries and types of organizations, the quicker and more effectively can we reach these

goals. Especially important are the networks formed early on, among students and young

professionals who will be the future energy leaders.

The Context

Various initiatives have emerged aiming at integrating the energy development networks

across disperse geographical areas. Recently, in the United States, programs like Spark Clean

Energy connecting the various energy communities, from Stanford University and the

University of California Berkeley to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard.

Inspired by the communications with leaders of the Stanford, MIT, and other energy student

organizations, we aim at seizing the great potential of establishing Europe’s own network of

young energy professionals.

The Vision

Our vision is to foster regional-based, student-run energy networks for young professionals to

learn and act upon current energy topics.

Our decentralized approach enables the regional hubs to pursue topics most relevant to

them and build up regional responsibility. The central hub of this network will remain in

Switzerland, given its central location and politically neutral role in Europe.

As a kick-off event to introduce the students and identify value-focused strategic initiatives,

we decided to gather students for a 2-day, intensive conference.

On May 20-21, 2016, the EPFL Energy Business, Policy, and Technology (Energy BPT) student

group hosted the first edition of the European Energy Student Conference, in Lausanne,

Switzerland. The idea was born out of the international team of students in the Energy BPT

group and quickly gained momentum and support from students from other European

universities.

9

11

13

14

16

50

100

150

175

200

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Countries Students

Growth goals for the European Energy Student Network Annual Conference (EESC).

1st EESC attendants by the country of origin of their organizations.

Over 50 students

from 9 European

countries attended

the 1st European

Energy Student

Conference, meeting

our attendance

target and exceeding

our diversity target.

Images worth a Thousand Words from

1st European Energy Student Conference

We let the pictures of our speaker, and our participants give you a glimpse of how it was to

join us in Lausanne for the European Energy Student Conference 2016.

Opening Plenary (Day 1)

Michael Dupertuis, Geroco SA Nick Arapkoules, Heliix, Forbes 30 under 30

Team Building (Day 1)

Participants (and speakers) engaged in team building addressing key questions on energy together.

Qendresa Rugova, Burg Capital; John Epars, Romande Energie; Grégoire Castella, Antenna Technologies

Industry Panel (Day 1)

Business Simulation (Day 1) Networking Lunch

Pedro Miranda, Younergy (solar PV start-up, established in EPFL Innovation Park)

Round Table (Day 2)

Ingénieurs du Monde (EPFL), round table on Energy in the Developing World

Present Your Research in 180” (Day 2)

Case-Study (Day 2)

EESN Strategy Session (Day 2)

Marcus Lehmann, CalWave, Forbes 30 under 30; Mark Silberg, Rocky Mountain Institute, Forbes 30 under 30

Anthony Suen, SparkClean Energy, EnergyFolks

Closure at Lac Léman (Day 2)

Closing Plenary (Day 2)

Simulating the

European Energy Transition

Motivation

The overarching theme of the conference was: the European Energy Transition. As one of the

cornerstones of the conference, the participants enjoyed an immersive exercise in the format

of a business simulation game.

We aimed at giving the participants a sense of the challenges involved in the negotiations

addressing carbon emission cuts, when several parties are brought together, with divergent

agendas and competing interests, and negotiate a common end goal. We aimed at taking

students out of their comfort zones: many of the participants had a more technical

background and as such were not often exposed to the business and political aspects of

climate change negotiations.

Overall, the simulation attempted to be an immersive way to make them reflect on the

challenges ahead, if we hope to create a sustainable and economically sound world for our

generation and the next ones.

Background

The premise of the game was simple: it is the year 2035 and despite common efforts after

COP2015, climate change is going strong, with some of the worst-case predictions coming to

fruition. As such, countries must get together to find a new target of emission reductions or

augmentations, from -30% to + 30%, with each country starting the game with a desired target.

They must also choose how to achieve the desired reduction through a series of energy

transition policy options provided to them. Besides countries, there were also industries and

media players, who had either resources or information with which they wanted to influence

the countries’ decisions. Countries and industries were created inspired on data from real

countries and industries.

The country and industry resource figures were extrapolated from real values of the

stakeholders. For countries, their resources were calculated as a factor of their GDP,

population, and innovation potential, as factors that contribute to influence outlined by the

RAND Corporation1. The industries were given resource values representative of the budgets

they hold. Both parties were also given information about the breakdown of the various

sources of energy in their country, as well as national industries, allowing the industries to

prioritize which countries to speak to and the countries to devise their strategies.

The Game

Countries were given an incentive to reach an emissions reduction agreement in the forms of

payoffs and punishments added at the end of the game. Additionally, in between negotiation

rounds, industries were able to approach countries and offer deals to ensure their position in

these countries were not affected.

Countries could accept those deals in

order to increase their budgets and

gain more flexibility in the

negotiations. In the meantime, media

reported on deals and tendencies,

trying to affect the outcome and

generate doubt or certainty on the

negotiations. The individual objective

of each country was to stay as close

as possible to their initial target while

preserving their budget (that could

be done by spending small amounts

of money, amassing high payoffs,

making deals with industries or a

combination of all of these).

1 Treverton, G. and Jones, S. “Measuring National Power.” Conference Proceedings. RAND Corporation. 2005.

Testimonials

"The game taught us that good planning and cooperation with other

countries are vital in achieving a goal that benefits all. More so it also

showed us that intergovernmental decision-making is a nexus to global

initiatives being a success." – A. Edwards (Rhun Country)

"It’s clear, that there are no geographical limitations to the impacts of global

warming and no one country can have significant impact. All have to work

together to achieve the common goal. No one can do everything but

everyone can do something to save the world.” –

A. Musæus (Lemonia Country)

"We observed that it is easier to agree on a lower target, as this requires less

combined effort. This is striking, as there is a higher payback when a more

challenging target is set. Furthermore, smaller countries that are more

impacted by the consequences of climate change have a smaller influence

on the decision-taking process."– R. van de Lagemaat (Dorneland Country)

"In negotiations, it is important to know the politics, business environment, the

goals and the stance of countries in overall energy sector. Sometimes one

option can be best in terms of science and technology, […] but countries can

[only] choose other options […] because their market characteristics work

better with these resources or there is strongest lobbyists in the sake of these

resources. Technical and scientific approach is not enough to understand and

shape countries’ decisions, it needs a more integrated approach combined

with law, policy and business.” – C. Öztürk (Natural Gas Industry Lobby)

"Governments and industry should work together in order to raise funding

for R&D of technologies, in order to avoid lock-in on technologies, which are

not the best option.

Energy transitions are like Rome - they are not built in a day. The time scope

could be up to thirty-fifty years, which is like a politician's lifetime. Therefore

decisions and planning should be as little “party dependent” as possible, as

they change every four or eight years. Education is also an important

ingredient in order to transform systems for the better, and this is very much

the case for the energy sector. We need to make decisions based on

knowledge, not on feelings and political popularity. Therefore it is crucial

that the people involved in these decisions are well informed, or have the

best experts in the field at hand.” – J. Erdal (Nuclear Energy Lobby)

"Talk is cheap: governments may try to improve their image by promising to

go green without taking effective actions to move their countries into that

direction. This highlights […] the wider problem of accountability and

transparency […]. [W]e think that it is key to exert social and political

pressure on decision-makers through different mechanisms such as open

government initiatives or transparency oriented, watchdog NGOs. However,

we also recognize the paramount obstacles to carry this out, particularly in

authoritarian regimes.” – A. Núñez (Renewable Energies Lobby)

"Since the media arguably have such a decisive role in informing the

industries and countries on the other parties’ actions, it is important to have

several diversified output channels. If the media is too biased in either

direction, it could lead to inefficient solutions and mistrust between the

different parties.

That being said, the media should be aware of their effect on the future

energy policy. Therefore, it is important that they fact based informed, and

that they show all the sides of the issue. This is hard for a biased or sponsored

media, but would serve the world better.” – K. Kort (The Grey Post)

Results

At the end of the simulation, countries agreed on an emissions reduction of 10% and

provided us with their policy plan to achieve this goal. While this seems like a positive result,

the reality is more controversial: some countries made huge sacrifices to achieve this goal,

some were already prepared for it. Additionally, a 10% reduction is not enough for many of

the countries to survive sustainably under the simulation scenario. The table below shows

the shifts in positions and budgets for each country. It is important to note that the budget is

not their entire GDP, but representative of a percentage of GDP that could be allocated to

the transition. The budgets are denominated in a common currency designated as "credits".

Table 1. Summary of key initial variables and results from the negotiation simulation.

Country Initial Position Position

Shift Initial Budget Earned in Deals Final Budget

Final Budget Spent (%)

Winterfell 0% +1 26.0 20.0 46.0 100%

Bierania -20% +1 48.0 5.0 53.0 89%

Rhun +10% -2 7.0 7.0 14.0 79%

Dorneland -10% 0 17.0 9.0 26.0 100%

Lemonia -30% +2 13.0 10.5 23.5 46%

Westerfort 0% -1 36.0 12.0 48.0 6%

Westerfort was the most successful country, as it was able to use only 6% of its final budget

and remain relatively close to its initial position. Conversely, Rhun used 79% of its final

budget to fulfill an agreement that was two positions more ambitious than it desired.

Conclusions & Recommendations

The simulation proved to be an effective and fun way to engage students in meaningful

debate over the energy issues of our generations.

The structure and organization of the game requires iteration and improvement for future

editions, especially in terms of coordinating a game with so many participants. For future

editions, topics can be selected that are pertinent to challenges and hot topics of that time,

and relevant members of industry, international organizations, government and academia

can be invited to watch and participate in debates with the students regarding the results of

simulation and the choices made in the process. This would help bridging the real world with

the game and draw parallels and constructive criticism on the ways students play their roles

and make decisions.

To increase engagement in the game, a recommendation is to introduce real stakes. One

possible way to do this is through establishing partnerships with industry and organizations

and designing the game to produce useful output for them. With the need to produce such

material, players would be more encouraged to prepare ahead for the game and to engage

with it in more meaningful ways during the simulation.

Conclusions & Next Steps

for the European Energy Student Network

A major outcome of the conference was the catalyzation of the European Energy Student

Network (EESN) with the establishment of a core strategic team and a wide membership base.

Vision

We envision a better-connected network of energy professionals who can catalyze progress

to reach the world’s climate change and energy development objectives by optimizing

existing ideas, resources, and technologies.

Mission

EESN intends to foster connections among students and young professionals in Europe with

energy-related companies, policy-makers and NGOs to build a community of future energy

leaders who can see and solve the energy challenge from various vantage points.

Strategic Objectives for 2016-2017

EESN will deliver on its mission via 6 key strategic objectives:

1. Organizing a central, pan-European student energy conference each year

2. Organizing targeted regional conferences and workshops

3. Conducting self-initiated analytical projects in European energy topics

4. Conducting consulting projects for startups / companies

5. Connecting students and young professionals with jobs and internship opportunities

via social media

6. Assisting universities in establishing energy clubs of their own

Key Partners

Our key partners are universities who have energy-related educational programs or research,

large, medium and start-up companies, policy-making bodies and NGOs working in business,

policy, legal, and technology aspects of energy.

If you are interested in supporting one of the EESN initiatives as a sponsor or partner, please

email: eesn.org(at)gmail.com We look forward to working with you!

European Energy Student Network © 2016