OSeMOSYS: the first seven years of development
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Background
OSeMOSYS is a full-fledged systems optimization model for long-run energy planning. The initial working code of OSeMOSYS was published in 2008 in a presentation at the International Energy Workshop in Paris at the IEA (the date stamped pdf with the original code can be found here). Then called SoftMESSAGE, it was later renamed OSeMOSYS and a dedicated website was set up the following year. To our knowledge, this was the first (full) energy system optimisation modelling framework whose Code, Environment and Solver were all fully open source.
Unlike long established energy systems models, such as MARKAL/TIMES (ETSAP, 2010), MESSAGE (IAEA, 2010), PRIMES (NTUA, 2010), EFOM (Van der Voort, 1982) and POLES (Enerdata, 2010), OSeMOSYS potentially requires a less significant learning curve and time commitment to build and operate. Additionally, by not using proprietary software or commercial programming languages and solvers, OSeMOSYS requires no upfront financial investment. These two advantages extend the availability of energy modeling to large communities of students, business analysts, government specialists, and developing countries energy researchers.
Motivation
OSeMOSYS is designed to fill a gap in the analytical toolbox available to the energy research community and energy planners in developing countries. At present there exists a useful, but limited set of accessible energy system models. These tools often require significant investment in terms of human resources, training and software purchases in order to apply or further develop them. In addition, their structure is often such that integration with other tools, when possible, can be difficult.
Energy specialists
The OSeMOSYS code is relatively straightforward, elegant and transparent and allows for simple refinements and the ability to conduct sophisticated analyses. As models are made to generate insights, OSeMOSYS allows a test-bed for new energy model developments.
Education
Enabling graduate students to build and iteratively develop formal energy models will impart this knowledge base to very wide range of energy market roles and positions. Extending the human capacity of private and public policy makers to use and understand energy models is a key step in the effective use and interpretation of formal analytical tools. And growing human capacity in energy modeling in developing countries – whose institutions have relatively fewer research resources – is particularly important, given the growth of developing countries in energy related emissions, resource use, and demand for energy services.
Community
OSeMOSYS community welcomes professionals and experts from different levels: decision makers, policy officers, energy planners, developers of new model functionalities, programmers. All your valuable comments and contributions are welcomed here.
OSeMOSYS is a full-fledged systems optimization model for long-run energy planning. The initial working code of OSeMOSYS was published in 2008 in a presentation at the International Energy Workshop in Paris at the IEA (the date stamped pdf with the original code can be found here). Then called SoftMESSAGE, it was later renamed OSeMOSYS and a dedicated website was set up the following year. To our knowledge, this was the first (full) energy system optimisation modelling framework whose Code, Environment and Solver were all fully open source.
Unlike long established energy systems models, such as MARKAL/TIMES (ETSAP, 2010), MESSAGE (IAEA, 2010), PRIMES (NTUA, 2010), EFOM (Van der Voort, 1982) and POLES (Enerdata, 2010), OSeMOSYS potentially requires a less significant learning curve and time commitment to build and operate. Additionally, by not using proprietary software or commercial programming languages and solvers, OSeMOSYS requires no upfront financial investment. These two advantages extend the availability of energy modeling to large communities of students, business analysts, government specialists, and developing countries energy researchers.
Motivation
OSeMOSYS is designed to fill a gap in the analytical toolbox available to the energy research community and energy planners in developing countries. At present there exists a useful, but limited set of accessible energy system models. These tools often require significant investment in terms of human resources, training and software purchases in order to apply or further develop them. In addition, their structure is often such that integration with other tools, when possible, can be difficult.
Energy specialists
The OSeMOSYS code is relatively straightforward, elegant and transparent and allows for simple refinements and the ability to conduct sophisticated analyses. As models are made to generate insights, OSeMOSYS allows a test-bed for new energy model developments.
Education
Enabling graduate students to build and iteratively develop formal energy models will impart this knowledge base to very wide range of energy market roles and positions. Extending the human capacity of private and public policy makers to use and understand energy models is a key step in the effective use and interpretation of formal analytical tools. And growing human capacity in energy modeling in developing countries – whose institutions have relatively fewer research resources – is particularly important, given the growth of developing countries in energy related emissions, resource use, and demand for energy services.
Community
OSeMOSYS community welcomes professionals and experts from different levels: decision makers, policy officers, energy planners, developers of new model functionalities, programmers. All your valuable comments and contributions are welcomed here.
If you are referencing this work, please do cite:
M. Howells, H. Rogner, N. Strachan, C. Heaps, H. Huntington, S. Kypreos, A. Hughes, S. Silveira, J. DeCarolis, and M. Bazillian, “OSeMOSYS: the open source energy modeling system: an introduction to its ethos, structure and development”, Energy Policy, vol. 39, no. 10, pp. 5850–5870, 2011.
M. Howells, H. Rogner, N. Strachan, C. Heaps, H. Huntington, S. Kypreos, A. Hughes, S. Silveira, J. DeCarolis, and M. Bazillian, “OSeMOSYS: the open source energy modeling system: an introduction to its ethos, structure and development”, Energy Policy, vol. 39, no. 10, pp. 5850–5870, 2011.
