Multi-point energy transfer: Limiting active flows

Hello all,
I am trying to model energy transfer between 2 points, A and B. I use 2 Transformers for that purpose (A–>B, B–>A), since transfer losses are included. However, i have the problem that at the same time step, energy is being transfered from A to B and from B to A. Do you know how can i limit the two transfer lines so that only one of them is active at one time step?
What options do you use to model energy transfer (gas, electricity)?

Best regards,
Roberta

Hi @Roberta,

Typically, there should be no incentive to waste energy. So, circular flows are a sign that something is fishy with the system, i.e. the losses are actively increased. However, there is a way to implement a constraint enforcing that only one direction is possible at a time, including an example: Flow count limit — oemof.solph 0.5.1.dev3 documentation

(Note the disclaimer: “Binary variables are computationally expensive. Thus, you might want to avoid using this constraint if you do not really need it.”)