Euro-Calliope: Pre-built European Electricity System Models

Euro-Calliope provides ready-to-use, open-source models of the European electricity system built with the Calliope framework. The models are available at three spatial resolutions: continental (1 node), national (34 nodes), and regional (497 nodes). Each model is a linear optimization problem that minimizes the total monetary cost of building renewable generation, balancing, and storage capacities to meet historically-based electricity demand across interconnected locations.

Use Cases

• Capacity expansion planning based on renewable generation and balancing technology options.
• Transmission network analysis using the model's interconnected location nodes.
• Spatial resolution comparison by running scenarios across continental, national, and regional scales.
• Policy impact assessment by adapting model components to test different regulatory or cost assumptions.

Strengths

• Offers three distinct, pre-configured spatial resolutions with a specific number of nodes (1, 34, 497).
• Models are built on the Calliope framework, allowing for adaptation and manual configuration.
• The dataset is openly accessible under an Open Access (green) license.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, specific update dates, and column details are not provided.
• Running the models requires specific software dependencies, including a Gurobi license or alternative solver.
• The dataset's primary content is model configuration files rather than traditional observational data.

Provenance

Source

Tim Tröndle (ETH Zurich)

Collection Method

Models built using the Calliope energy modeling framework.

Geography

Europe