Operation and planning open source energy modeling for energy transition scenarios

Following the sustainable development goals, access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy is a crucial factor in order to achieve economic and social developments. Energy systems have an essential role in improving the quality of life especially in the developing countries where there is a huge need of upgrading the communities by providing better health and education, new economic opportunities and greater protections from climate change. However, the current structure of the energy systems is causing severe environmental issues. Therefore, a wide range of energy transition plans and policies have been globally analyzed to assess the potential impact of various pathways and scenarios on the whole energy system and other sectors of economy. Consequently, energy models have been broadly used in the recent years with the aim of exploring the possible evolution of the energy systems. These computer models are useful in delivering the required insight about both the supply and demand sides of the energy systems and can be grouped into various categories based on their specific functionality such as optimization, simulation, power system and electricity markets and qualitative methods. In this study, a new operation and planning open source energy modeling framework has been developed from the ground of up to address some issues and challenges related to the existing energy models. The proposed model is a bottom-up energy system model with the general logic of both operation and investment decision supports able to assess short-term and long-term dynamic energy scenarios. The main objective is to provide transparent core code, data and assumptions which can be easily used, modified and integrated by independent actors. One of the focal innovations of the model is to involve abroad range of spatial and temporal resolutions down to hourly time steps which are required for accurate modeling of the variable renewable energy sources and underestimated in the formerly developed planning energy models. A detailed explanation of the structure, capabilities and limitations of the proposed model and also the possible future modifications will be further discussed in the next sections.