Open energy system models are open source. They are used to explore future energy systems and are often applied to questions involving energy and climate policy. The models themselves vary widely in terms of their type, design, programming, application, scope, level of detail, sophistication, and shortcomings.

Distributed under the EUPL-1.2 (software parts) and CC-BY-4.0 (data parts) the DISPA-Set model is under development at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), Petten, The Netherlands.

Intended primarily for Europe (but already used in third countries), Dispa-SET is a unit commitment and dispatch model. It is written in Python language. The project name refers to the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan), which seeks to make Europe a leader in energy technologies that can fulfil future (2020 and 2050) energy and climate targets.

Dispa-SET has been or is being applied to case studies in Belgium, Bolivia, Greece, Ireland, and the Netherlands. For example, the solution supports investigations or “what if” scenarios for different mixes of nuclear generation, combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant and other sources of renewable energy. It assess how far CCGT plants are subject to more aggressive cycling as new renewable generation (wind & solar) penetrates.

A 2020 study investigated the collective impact of future climatic conditions on 34 European power systems, including potential variations in solar, wind, and hydro‑power output and electricity demand under various projected meteorological scenarios for the European continent.

More information:

http://www.dispaset.eu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_energy_system_models