Energy Data & Modeling

Open source tools and grid telemetry.

Energy Data & Modeling infrastructure

The Need for Chronological Granularity

Static modeling using annual averages is useless for a highly renewable grid. Understanding the energy transition requires sub-hourly chronological dispatch modeling across multiple meteorological weather years. This ensures that the modeled grid can survive severe weather events (e.g., a two-week winter lull in wind generation across Northern Europe).

Open Data Initiatives

Organizations like the ENTSO-E (Europe) and EIA (USA) are standardizing grid telemetry data. Open-source modeling frameworks like PyPSA (Python for Power System Analysis) allow researchers to optimize capacity expansion and dispatch without relying on black-box proprietary software.

Data TypeSourceUpdate Frequency
Wholesale Pricing & DispatchISO / RTO Portals5-minute / Hourly
Meteorological Data (GHI/Wind)ERA5 (Copernicus) / NREL NSRDBHourly (Historical Reanalysis)
Project Costs (CapEx/OpEx)NREL ATB (Annual Technology Baseline)Annually

Internal Navigation

Interactive: Model Testing

Adjust the parameters below to run the model based on current baseline data.

Result: Calculating...

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Capacity Expansion Modeling?
A type of mathematical optimization that determines the lowest-cost mix of generation and transmission assets to build over a multi-decade horizon, while satisfying all reliability constraints.