Development of open-source energy system optimization models

1. Our extended TEMOA modeling tool

Activity carried out by: Matteo Nicoli, Daniele Lerede, Gianvito Colucci

Recently, a growing awareness is spreading in the scientific community about open science, i.e., the possibility to freely disseminate data and results of scientific research, increasing responsiveness and spreading knowledge regardless of the economic status of the recipients. In particular, the open science purpose can be realized in the field of energy modeling providing open access to both models and data, leading not only to higher quality, reliability, and recognition of the results of energy projection tools, but also to the spread of attempts of shaping the energy system according to more comprehensive optimization paradigms.

Our commitment in the context of open science is reflected in the decision of developing an open-source energy system modeling tool equipped with comparable features with respect to other well-accepted and widely used commercial tools. This is based on the existing Tools for Energy Modeling Optimization and Analysis (TEMOA), developed during the last years in the USA within the North Carolina State University.

TEMOA was extended and integrated by us during the last few years and Figure 1 schematically shows the main differences between the original TEMOA version and the MAHTEP version.

Figure 1. Original (a) and extended (b) TEMOA structure.

The main changes between the two versions concern:

Integration of new parameters and constraints in the TEMOA algorithm, as explained in [1], [2].
Development of a database pre-processing module, whom functions are explained in [1], [2].
Development of a database post-processing module, to derive aggregated results by technologies, commodities, and groups of them.

A first benchmark of our TEMOA version against The Integrated MARKAL-EFOM System (TIMES) model generator was presented in [1], [2]. A summary comparison of the results is presented in Figure 2, showing an average relative difference in results, obtained with both tools and equivalent input data, within few percent.

Figure 2. Comparison of the optimal energy mixes for electricity production in 2030 by TIMES-Italy and TEMOA-Italy models [1].

2. TEMOA-Europe

Activity carried out by: Daniele Lerede, Gianvito Colucci, Matteo Nicoli

GitHub: MAHTEP/TEMOA-Europe

Given the several years of experience in the maintenance and development of the EUROfusion TIMES Model within the EUROfusion WorkPackage for Socio-Economic Studies, this work aims to develop an open-data and open-software model instance for the European continent on a long-term time scale up to 2100: TEMOA-Europe. The model is mostly updated in the last few years with parameters coming from freely accessible sources and based on a completely accessible open database, like those developed for the road transportation [3] and the industrial [4] sectors. The very long-term time scale of the model is required to perform unbiased and verifiable analyses on the possible role of nuclear fusion technologies in the future energy mix. Indeed, the necessity of producing reliable studies to drive research and development and public investment choices cannot ignore the full accessibility and repeatability of the analyses.

TEMOA-Europe is currently relying on a techno-economic database able to depict net-zero emission by 2050 scenarios (see Figure 3), while a proper benchmark against historical data should be still performed to get the model ready for policy-relevant analyses.

Figure 3. Gross sectoral CO2 emission trajectories compared against the net-CO2 emission curve as depicted by TEMOA-Europe.

3. TEMOA-Italy

Activity carried out by: Matteo Nicoli, Gianvito Colucci, Daniele Lerede, Alessandro Balbo

GitHub: MAHTEP/TEMOA-Italy

TEMOA-Italy is a model instance for the optimization of the Italian energy system developed within an extended version of the TEMOA (Tools for Energy Modeling Optimization and Analysis) modeling framework.

The maintenance team currently includes Matteo Nicoli, Gianvito Colucci, Daniele Lerede and Prof. Laura Savoldi from MAHTEP Group at Department of Energy of Politecnico di Torino. For any communication related to TEMOA-Italy, please write to matteo.nicoli@polito.it and gianvito.colucci@polito.it.

The TEMOA-Italy database was generated starting from the TIMES-Italy model, developed by ENEA in the TIMES modeling framework. The current TEMOA-Italy is updated, integrated, and recalibrated to historical data up to 2020 with respect to the original TIMES-Italy 2010 version [5].

A schematic representation of the reference energy system (RES) is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Representation of the TEMOA-Italy energy system [6].

As Figure 1 highlights, the TEMOA-Italy RES is composed of several energy sectors. The supply side includes the upstream sector (producing and transforming fossil fuels, biofuels and renewable potentials and modeling import/export), the power sector (devoted to the production of electricity and heat), the hydrogen module (including hydrogen production, distribution, and storage technologies, see Figure 2) and the Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) module (modeling CO2 capture, utilization – through synfuels production – and storage, see Figure 3). The demand side covers the building sector (which includes residential, commercial and agriculture end-uses), several road and non-road transport demands, and the energy intensive industrial subsectors.

Figure 2. The TEMOA-Italy hydrogen module [6].

Figure 3. The TEMOA-Italy CCUS module [6].

A detailed description of the methodology adopted for TEMOA-Italy construction, together with a detailed assessment of its reliability in reproducing equivalent results with respect to its counterpart TIMES-Italy, is available at [1] and [2].

Here follows a summary of the main changes from the original TIMES-Italy 2010 version to the current TEMOA-Italy:

Transport sector: recalibration of base year modeling and update of new technologies characterization, based on [3] and [7].
Industry: recalibration of base year modeling and update of new technologies characterization, based on [7] and [8].
Hydrogen sector: integration of a new hydrogen technology module, as discussed in [6] and [9].
CCUS sector: integration of a new CCUS (carbon capture utilization and storage) technology module, as discussed in [6] and [9].
Emissions: integration of a dynamic emission accounting of CO2 emissions, as discussed in [6] and [10].
Demand projection: update of socio-economic drivers and elasticities for demands projection, based on [11], [12] and [13].

4. TEMOA-Piedmont

Activity carried out by: Farzaneh Amir Kavei, Daniele Mosso, Matteo Nicoli

Regional energy management is a crucial step to study the necessary actions toward the realization of national energy transition goals which in turn leads to achievement of European energy policies. The TEMOA-Piedmont model, the first energy model of the region, is an open access, open-data model planned to support researchers and regional and national authorities to have an overview of one of the densely populated and highly industrialized regions of Italy and to forecast its evolution implementing energy transition goals. To improve the sustainability aspects, the energy model will be used to implement water as a commodity and study water-energy nexus and circularity aspects later on.

Figure 4. A simplified representation of the reference energy system of Piedmont model

Figure 4 shows a simple representation of the reference energy system of the model. The energy carriers either extracted, generated, or transformed in the upstream and energy sector or imported are consumed in the demand side sectors (e.g., transport, agriculture or residential) of the model to cover different final demands which in the case of the residential sector could be domestic hot water, cooking, lightning washing etc.

5. TEMOA-Pantelleria

Activity carried out by: Maria Elena Alfano, Farzaneh Amir Kavei, Matteo Nicoli

The pursuit of territorial cohesion and sustainable development in islands is at the heart of the European Union's policy targets and represents a crucial initial step towards a large-scale transition. However, islands face unique challenges such as water scarcity and dependence on fossil fuels. Addressing these challenges requires an integrated approach of the resources that comprehensively assesses the associated conflicts and opportunities.

The aim of the present activity is to construct a tool intended for the comprehensive evaluation of water and energy resources in Pantelleria Island. To achieve this objective, the island's Reference Energy (RES) and Water (RWS) Systems were developed within the Energy System Optimization Model (ESOM) TEMOA to enable an investigation of the consequences of alterations in interconnected sectors on both resources. The main sectors composing Pantelleria island RES and RWS and the connection between their different sections are shown in Figure 5.

The TEMOA-Pantelleria model [14] allows for sustainable management by identifying synergies and trade-off between water and energy resources. This approach serves as a practical example of a quantitative water-energy nexus approach and could be extended to larger scales in the future.

Figure 5. Schematic representation of the reference energy and water system within TEMOA-Pantelleria model.

6. ETM

Activity carried out by: Daniele Lerede, Gianvito Colucci

In collaboration with: EUROfusion

Within the framework of the EUROfusion Workpackage for Socio-Economic Studies, the MAHTEP Group is involved in the maintenance and development of the EUROfusion TIMES Model (ETM), identified by the European Commission as the tool to depict the future role of nuclear fusion technologies based on the outcomes of the ITER Project [7]. ETM is an optimization model of the global energy system based on the TIMES modeling framework developed on a time scale up to 2100. So far, the MAHTEP Group has been responsible for the development of the new transport [3], industry [4] and hydrogen modules, as well as for the generation of scenario [8] and stochastic optimization [15] analyses.

7. TIMES-Italy

Activity carried out by: Matteo Nicoli, Gianvito Colucci, Alessandro Balbo

In collaboration with: ENEA

This activity is carried out in collaboration with Dr. Francesco Gracceva by ENEA and it consists of update and maintenance of the TIMES-Italy energy system model. MAHTEP Group has been responsible for the development of the new transport [3], industry [4], hydrogen and CCUS modules [6] [10].

References

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