In 2022, the PyPSA Meets Africa initiative released the first prototype of PyPSA meets Africa (v0.0.1) and is now is focused on expanding globally into a new phase, called PyPSA Meets Earth, and creating an open model dataset of the global power system at different network levels. G-PST’s Open Tools and Data Pillar (Pillar 5) is actively working to support these activities by advancing tool interoperability and establishing standard data specifications in collaboration with PyPSA Meets Earth and researchers from organizations such as LF Energy, Fraunhofer, NREL, and RTE France.

G-PST team members Clayton Barrows and Jarrad Wright joined a virtual event introducing the PyPSA Meets Earth initiative and spoke on its panel about the challenges and opportunities for scaling up use of open-source tools and data at power system operators. The panel’s remarks ranged across topics such as usability and interoperability of open-source systems, as well as methods for validating and building up system operators’ confidence in open-source.

“Model comparisons and benchmarking efforts are fantastic venues for understanding different approaches,” said Clayton Barrows, one of Pillar 5’s co-leads. “There is so much low-hanging fruit, like agreeing on common data standards so we can pass data between several tools, so building up these communities is very valuable.”

Featured panelists:

  • Asami Miketa – Senior Programme Officer, Power Sector Investment Planning at International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
  • Jarrad Wright – Previously, Principal Grid Planning Engineer at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa; Currently, Senior Researcher in the Grid Planning and Analysis Center at NREL
  • Clayton Barrows – Senior Research Engineer at NREL, and technical co-lead on Pillar 5 of the G-PST.
  • Maximilian Parzen (Moderator) – Founder of PyPSA meets Earth Initiative, PhD student at the University of Edinburgh

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