Open Data & Tools2021-10-08T09:21:21-04:00

Pillar 5 – Open Data & Tools

GPST Icon logo

Based on input from system operators, the OpenMod community, and others, Fraunhofer’s Cluster of Excellence for Integrated Energy Systems (CINES) and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland are working to characterize and further improve different existing open models and tools that are most applicable to G-PST activities. This detailed open tool classification approach is also being transferred to a public space for easy accessibility. In addition, the Consortium will support the application of these open tools and data with developing country partners. As a major development, USAID is expanding the RE Data Explorer to provide open renewable energy data to the world that can be used by system operators and other stakeholders to support power system transformation.

Tools Portal
View Resources
Get Involved

Latest Accomplishments

2809, 2021

Pillar 5 Develops Portal to Aggregate Open-Source Power System Software

The G-PST Consortium’s Pillar 5, led by VTT Finland with support from NREL, is developing an open-source tool portal to help filter, visualize, and identify open-source power systems software capabilities. This portal will be a practice-oriented resource aimed at making it easier for system operators, planners, and modelers to find useful tools for managing power systems with high shares of variable renewable energy, such as wind and solar. The beta version portal is now live and the Pillar 5 team is in the process of collecting tool submissions.

View Portal

809, 2021

Spine Toolbox: Data, Workflow and Scenario Management for Modelling

September 8, 2021 – 11:00 AM EDT

Spine Toolbox is an open-source software to manage data, scenarios and workflows for energy system modelling and simulation. You can have your local workflow, but work as a team through version control and SQL databases. This webinar provides an overview of the different functionalities and showcases them through two examples. More information and documentation available at https://spine-toolbox.readthedocs.io/.

Featured panelists:
• Madeleine McPherson and Jacob Monroe, University of Victoria
• Milos Cvetkovic and Jim Hommes, Delft University of Technology
• Juha Kiviluoma, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
• Clayton Barrows, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Watch the recording.
Review the presentation materials.

2705, 2021

Open Source Tools for System Operators – Focus on Power Flow Tools

The rise of data science and scientific programming languages, such as Python and Julia, presents numerous opportunities for power system modernization and advanced analytics. In recent years, the quality and availability of open-source power systems analysis tools in these languages has dramatically increased. However, despite widespread usage of open languages for data analysis, industrial usage of open power systems analysis tools remains rare. The G-PST Consortium’s Pillar 5 lead organization, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, present a webinar series that will showcase some of the most capable power systems analysis and modeling tools that exist within common data science languages to highlight opportunities to enable advanced analytic workflows. This first installment focuses on workflows in Python, using the popular data analysis package, Pandas, and the power systems analysis package, PandaPower.

Watch the recording.
Review the presentation deck. 

2509, 2020

Advanced Open Tools Characterized to Support System Operation and Planning

A detailed characterization approach was developed for the open models and tools, along with comprehensive dimensions of assessment. Subsequently, the classification and evaluation process started and is currently under progress.

Moreover, A new proposal is being prepared to be submitted to the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology BMWi. This is in collaboration between Fraunhofer IEG and Fraunhofer IEE, and will deal with open source tools for global power transmission system planning.