ETHOS.FINE: A Framework for Integrated Energy System Assessment

The Journal of Open Source Software, vol. 10, pp. 6274

Abstract

The decarbonization of energy systems worldwide requires a transformation in their design and operation across all sectors, including the residential and commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors.Energy system models are often used to assess these changes.These models provide scenarios for potential future system designs and show how new technologies and infrastructure will meet future energy demand.Thus, they support investment decisions and policy making.The Python-based Framework for Integrated Energy System Assessment (ETHOS.FINE) is a software package that provides a toolbox for modeling, analyzing and evaluating such energy systems using mathematical optimization.ETHOS.FINE is not limited to a single instance of energy systems.Instead, it can be freely adapted to consider multiple commodities, regions, time steps and investment periods.The optimization objective is to minimize the net present value of the system and is subject to technical and environmental constraints.If only one investment period is considered, the net present value equals the total annual costs of the system.The generic object-oriented implementation allows for arbitrary spatial scales and number of regions -from the local level, e.g., individual buildings, to the regional one, e.g., districts or industrial sites, to the national and international levels.

Authors 6

1. Kevin Knosala Aachen Chair for Fuel Cells Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Climate and Energy Systems – Jülich Systems Analysis, 52425 Jülich, Germany

   RWTH Aachen University, Chair for Fuel Cells, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, 52062 Aachen, Germany

2. Johannes Behrens Aachen Chair for Fuel Cells Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Climate and Energy Systems – Jülich Systems Analysis, 52425 Jülich, Germany

   RWTH Aachen University, Chair for Fuel Cells, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, 52062 Aachen, Germany

3. Rachel Maier Aachen Chair for Fuel Cells Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Climate and Energy Systems – Jülich Systems Analysis, 52425 Jülich, Germany

   RWTH Aachen University, Chair for Fuel Cells, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, 52062 Aachen, Germany

4. Maximilian Hoffmann

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Climate and Energy Systems – Jülich Systems Analysis, 52425 Jülich, Germany

5. Noah Pflugradt

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Climate and Energy Systems – Jülich Systems Analysis, 52425 Jülich, Germany

6. Detlef Stolten Aachen Chair for Fuel Cells Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Climate and Energy Systems – Jülich Systems Analysis, 52425 Jülich, Germany

   RWTH Aachen University, Chair for Fuel Cells, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, 52062 Aachen, Germany