While at Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc. I constructed PATHWAYS models for both California and the U.S. to inform long-term energy transformation. California PATHWAYS analysis was used to inform the Governor's office's 2030 target-setting process (link) and the U.S. PATHWAYS analysis was used as part of the United Nations Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project.
The development of EnergyPATHWAYS, a flexible open-source modeling platform, was borne out of a desire to both broaden and deepen the scope of these modeling efforts. We wanted to create a more flexible platform that could be used at multiple jurisdiction levels - countries, states and provinces, and even cities - and in a variety of energy system contexts from the developed to the developing world.
The initial software development was initiated at E3 and was completed in early 2016. Development of the interface is ongoing and, at its completion, will offer a customizable, sophisticated energy-modeling platform that can be adopted by researchers from around the world.
It offers
Comprehensive energy, cost, and emissions accounting of flows from primary supply all the way through to final energy demand.
Flexible energy system representation allowing for upscaling (countries and regions) and downscaling (cities) of pathways analyses. Can support integrated, nested analyses of cities, states, and countries and also can support analyses with widely varying levels of data quality and availability.
Hourly electricity dispatch with optimization algorithms for electric fuel production (hydrogen electrolysis and power-to-gas); short-duration energy storage, long-duration energy storage; and flexible end-use loads.
We're very excited about the potential proliferation of EnergyPATHWAYS analysis. Below is a short teaser trailer for the model that was prepared for the COP. Initial source code is available here https://github.com/energyPATHWAYS). Please contact us with any questions about the status or use of the model.