18 Dec 2014 #python

Calliope, an open-source energy systems modelling framework

Energy system models are used by analysts in academia, government and industry. They allow researchers to build internally coherent simulations and scenarios of the extraction, conversion, transportation and use of energy, either today or in the future, at scales ranging from cities to entire countries or continents. These models are particularly important because they can help with understanding and planning the transition from a fossil-fuel dominated energy system to one primarily consisting of clean and renewable energy.

Calliope Logo

For about a year, I’ve been working on Calliope, a framework to develop energy system models using a modern and open source Python-based toolchain (the name derives from the idea of “multi-scale energy systems modelling” which leads to MUSES and thus Calliope).

Basically, I started to work on Calliope because I wanted something that ticks all these boxes:

  • Capable of using data with arbitrary (to some degree) resolution in space and time in an intelligent way
  • Able to define a number of model parameters to iterate over, generate a range of models to do so, and deploy these to a computing cluster, then process the results in a unified manner
  • Allow the specification of energy models in a text-based, modular, hierarchical data format (based on YAML and CSV files)
  • Written in a modern high-level language (Python)
  • Modular and easily extensible
  • Use a permissive Open Source license (Apache 2.0)

The goal of Calliope is not to compete with established large modelling systems such as TIMES. Rather, it is to provide a framework that enables the rapid construction of (small or large) models built to answer specific research questions. Furthermore, by combining its model specification format and the open code base, its aim is also to contribute to more open sharing of data and code in the energy modelling community.

It has its own website at www.callio.pe.

It’s still work in progress, with significant further functionality to be added in future releases. Currently, I’m the only developer, but contributions from others for whom this might be a useful tool are very welcome. I’m using Calliope for several ongoing research projects and it is undergoing continued development, so more material including academic papers will become available over the coming months. For now, there is a brief tutorial in the documentation that explains some of the things that Calliope does.

Comments, criticism and contributions are very welcome!