The Balmorel open source energy system
model
The Balmorel open source energy system
model was released in 2001. It was developed with the purpose of getting an
overview of the energy system - mainly with respect to electricity and district
heating - in the light of the energy
The
modeling was done in GAMS (General Algebraic Modelling System) and coding was fairly general, allowing the model to be extended and
applied with respect to energy system details as well as geography.
A
description of the model may be found in "The Balmorel
open source energy system model", Energy Strategy
Reviews, Volume 20, April 2018, Pages 26-34. The abstract of this paper is as
follows:
"As
the world progresses towards a cleaner energy future with more variable
renewable energy sources, energy system models are required to deal with new
challenges. This article describes design, development and applications of the open source energy system model Balmorel,
which is a result of a long and fruiƞul cooperation between public and
private institutions within energy system research and analysis. The purpose of
the article is to explain the modelling approach, to highlight strengths and
challenges of the chosen approach, to create awareness about the possible
applications of Balmorel as well as to inspire to new model developments and encourage new users to
join the community. Some of the key strengths of the model are the flexible
handling of the me and space dimensions
and the combination of opera on and investment optimisation.
Its open source character enables diverse, worldwide applications
for exploratory energy scenarios as well as policy analysis as the applications
outlined demonstrate. The existing functionality and structural suitability for
extensions make it a useful tool for assessing challenges of the ongoing energy
transitions. Numerous model extensions have been developed as different
challenges to the energy transition have arisen. One of these includes the op
on of running the model with unit commitment. To meet new challenges, further
development is needed and consequently the article outlines suggestions for
future development, such as including transport of local biomass as part of the
optimisation and speeding up the model.”
Additionally,
more than 100 scientific papers applying Balmorel
have been published. And the model has been applied to more than 20 countries.
The modelling capability in Balmorel may be extended
by coupling with the OptiFlow model (previously also
called OptiWaste), which provides further flexibility
in the model representations. OptiFlow is currently
an integrated part of Balmorel (an addon).
The codes
for the Balmorel are available at
GitHub: https://github.com/balmorelcommunity.
Balmorel code: https://github.com/balmorelcommunity/Balmorel.
Balmorel data: https://github.com/balmorelcommunity/Balmorel_data
For further
information about the models, you may contact these people at The Technical
University of Denmark:
Rasmus Bramstoft at mail: rabpe@dtu.dk and Marie Münster at mail: maem@dtu.dk
For further
information about commercialised engagements of the Balmorel model, you may contact the Danish company Ea
Energy Analyses at mail: info@eaea.dk
Hans Ravn
may be contacted at mail: hansaravn@aeblevangen.dk