RGI Grid Awards 2024 data entry

Outreach RGI Grid Awards
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1

Status

Topic status:  F R O Z E N  aside from any future typo fixes.

Our application was submitted in its entirety on Monday 22 July 2024 at 16:53 +0200 (CEST). That was actually a day late but RGI were not concerned.

The RGI landing page is here: https://renewables-grid.eu/activities/rgi-grid-awards.html

The list of judges is here: https://renewables-grid.eu/activities/rgi-grid-awards/award-jury.html

For background, see: https://forum.openmod.org/t/rgi-grid-awards-2024-background/4805

A note on the informal consultation that took place within the openmod community on the merits and content of this self‑application. There were no sentiments expressing opposition to the idea. There was one posting in favour. Two people contacted me offline, also supportive.

Preamble

The questions shown are drawn from the example application PDF and reformatted in markdown for use here:

The two‑digit field numbering provided below is not official and is unique to this markup.

Paragraph length responses are formatted as block quotes. The easiest way to read is to look for the   ▶  and run your eye to the right for the response — and then back to the left for the context.

The language in use is British English.

Find related pages by following this forum tag: rgi-grid-awards-2024

2. Contact Information

Please provide contact information for the organisation and contact person nominating a practice.

Organisation Information

  • Organisation Name  ▢ 01  ▶  Open Energy Modelling Initiative
  • Address  ▢ 02  ▶  c/– Robbie Morrison
  • Address 2  ▢ 03  ▶  Schillerstraße 85
  • City/Town  ▢ 04  ▶  Berlin
  • State/Province  ▢ 05  ▶  Berlin
  • ZIP/Postal Code  ▢ 06  ▶  10627
  • Country  ▢ 07  ▶  Germany
  • Website  ▢ 08  ▶  https://www.openmod-initiative.org
  • Phone Number  ▢ 09  ▶  NA

1st Contact Person

  • Name  ▢ 10  ▶  Robbie Morrison
  • Title or Role  ▢ 11  ▶  volunteer
  • Email Address  ▢ 12  ▶  robbie.morrison@posteo.de
  • Phone Number  ▢ 13  ▶  +49.30.61287617

2nd Contact Person

  • Name  ▢ 14  ▶  Lucie Ricq
  • Title or Role  ▢ 15  ▶  1st year PhD student, volunteer
  • Email Address  ▢ 16  ▶  lucie.ricq@enpc.fr
  • Phone Number  ▢ 17  ▶  +33.78.2368142

3. Practice Information

Please provide information about your practice.

Practice Name

Maximum 75 characters

Note: This will be used in communication materials. Please keep your practice name as concise as possible.

▢ 18  ▶

Open Energy Modelling Initiative (openmod)

Practice Location

Maximum 75 characters

▢ 19  ▶

Worldwide. The openmod discussion forum has coverage in the global south.

——

Comment: The locations of the openmod workshops have only been in the global north to date, primarily in Europe and the United States. The openmod forum has significant sign‑ons from India, south Asia, China, central and south America, and sub‑Saharan Africa. The Pacific is not represented to any degree.

Practice Timeline

Maximum 200 characters

Start date, practice milestones, end date.

▢ 20  ▶

The community formed as a result of a two day workshop held during September 2014 at DIW, Berlin, Germany. Milestones include our 18 workshops. There is no planned termination date.

——

Comment: A list of workshops is provided on Wikipedia.

Comment: The minutes from that first workshop, conducted in German, are here: Hirth, Lion (18 September 2014). Workshop zur offenen Energiesystemmodellierung [Open energy system modeling workshop] (in German). Berlin, Germany: Neon Neue Energieökonomik GmbH. Date from PDF metadata. Workshop programme.

Practice Website

▢ 21  ▶

The discussion forum is probably a better proxy than the openmod website. The forum has 1400 carefully screened participants and been up since January 2017:

Award Category

Please select one of the three award categories to submit your practice. If you are unsure about which category to submit your practice to, please email Mara Zainea at RGI.

▢ 22  ▶

 ● Technological Innovation and System Integration
 ○ Environmental Protection
 ○ Communication and Engagement

Practice Pitch

Maximum 300 characters

Please provide a short sentence which describes your practice in a simple and concise format. This will be used for short-form communication about your practice (i.e., social media, headers, etc.).

▢ 23  ▶

The openmod is an informal numerical modelling community that supports researchers investigating the rapid decarbonization of the energy sector and abutting systems and adapts and advocates the use of open science throughout the entire workflow.

——

Comment: In this context open science covers the legal aspects of open source software, genuinely open data, open standards, and content publication under open licenses — but also the joint efforts to develop and harmonise standards and then develop a knowledge commons based on linked open data and supported by these same standards.

Practice Summary

Maximum 1000 characters

Please provide a short paragraph which describes your practice in an accurate and informative format. This will be used for medium-form communication about your practice (i.e., newsletter, award brochure, database webpage,text, etc.).

▢ 24  ▶

The Open Energy Modelling Initiative is an informal umbrella organisation that supports projects and individuals engaged in systems modelling, semantic standards development, data governance, and knowledge infrastructures related to the identification of rapid decarbonization pathways for the energy sector and abutting systems.

A key goal is to promote the doctrine of open science in all its dimensions, including the development of a coherent, complete, and legally reusable information resource tailored to the domain.

Also central is the call for greater transparency for numerically‑supported public policy development and a shift from the use of black‑box modelling by public agencies.

Key drivers include easier research cooperation, reduced duplication of effort, a larger and more diverse solution space under investigation, and the opportunity to support adoption in the global south.

The openmod offers two online discussion channels and holds regular scientific workshops.

——

Comment: The concept of open science is described in UNESCO (2022). Understanding open science — Factsheet — SC-PBS-STIP/2022/OST/1. Paris, France: UNESCO. doi:10.54677/UTCD9302. The openmod published a manifesto as a result of its first workshop which clearly articulates the objectives just covered.

Comment: Some modelling protects already work extensively in the global south and with researchers from the global south. The activities of the OSeMOSYS and PyPSA projects in sub‑Saharan Africa provide examples.

Comment: The phrase “abutting systems” refers to components adjacent to the energy system, like the built environment, land usage, water resources, and more recently commodity feed‑stocks and the industrial sector generally.

Practice Description

Maximum 3000 characters

Please provide a few paragraphs which describe your practice in a detailed and descriptive format. This will be used for long-form communication about your practice (i.e., articles, fact-sheets for the award jury, etc.).

▢ 25  ▶

The Open Energy Modelling Initiative offers a loose community for projects and individuals engaged in systems modelling, semantic standards development, data governance, and knowledge infrastructures in order to explore rapid decarbonization pathways for the energy sector and abutting systems.

The openmod was founded ten years ago as an informal organisation to facilitate the exchange of ideas and practices concerning open‑source development, genuinely open information, research data management, and similar shared endeavours. 28 energy system modellers met in Berlin, Germany for two days during September 2014 and produced a manifesto. Those original sentiments remain equally valid today.

Several open‑source energy system framework projects predate the formation of the openmod by up to a decade. What was novel at the outset of the openmod was that the entire analytical workflow should be fully open, reproducible, and reusable by anyone for any purpose. These ideas paralleled similar sentiments from the then nascent open science movement.

To date, members of the openmod community have organised 18 international workshops, hosted at respected universities and research institutes. Key presentations are archived on YouTube. At the last workshop in Grenoble, France, about 70% of the 100 participants were first‑time and the majority early‑stage researchers.

The community runs two discussion channels. One is a relatively uncontrolled mailing list. The other is an online forum with 1400 carefully screened applicants (our rejection rate is 15%). This then provides the community with a safe and, when needed, private space for exchange. The forum also offers a searchable record, that gradually increases in utility over time.

Community members have pressed data providers in Europe to adopt Creative Commons attribution licensing to facilitate information reuse (as described elsewhere).

The geographical coverage of the openmod is quite good, with forum participants from most regions of the world. Uptake in the global south was addressed in the original manifesto and remains a community priority.

The openmod cannot claim credit for the successes of individual frameworks and modelling projects. But we are on the cusp of open‑source software becoming the standard. Major public agencies are migrating, including the EU JRC and the US DOE EIA. The same is true for European energy sector companies and consultancies.

The lack of coherent, complete, and legally reusable data remains highly problematic for energy system modellers. The development of a suitable information ecosystem requires greater community buy‑in than does building software and the openmod is contributing to this effort.

The openmod is entirely volunteer, has no cash‑flow, and is not incorporated in law.

Additional background

——

Comment: A “framework” describes the software and becomes a “model” when populated with data and executed. Normally, a coherent set of “scenarios” is investigated comparatively, with each scenario derived from a core base model and relying on explanatory “storylines” to provide context.

Practice Fact 1

Maximum 200 characters

Share a short piece of information about your practice that showcases what makes your approach stand out from other practices. For example, the number of people reached, the size of the project area, or the technical specifications.

▢ 26  ▶

The openmod offers early‑stage researchers an on‑ramp to open energy system modeling. Such researchers often comment that they find the forums and workshops helpful and the atmosphere conducive.

Practice Fact 2

Maximum 200 characters

Share a short piece of information about your practice that showcases what makes your approach stand out from other practices. For example, the number of people reached, the size of the project area, or the technical specifications.

▢ 27  ▶

The openmod is naturally accessible to researchers in the global south and to citizens lacking institutional affiliations. The openmod community can compliment projects offering starter kits globally.

Practice Fact 3

Maximum 200 characters

Share a short piece of information about your practice that showcases what makes your approach stand out from other practices. For example, the number of people reached, the size of the project area, or the technical speciications.

▢ 28  ▶

The volunteer nature of the organisation distinguishes the openmod from most other initiatives. This trait is two‑sided. But lengthy funding applications are avoided and independence is maintained.

What was the context that prompted the development of the practice? What challenge is it solving?

Maximum 2000 characters

▢ 29  ▶

In terms of context, a rise in the visibility of open source software development and the accompanying ethos were clearly instrumental in the formation of the openmod. Together with a growing frustration with black‑box analysis and the drawbacks of that development paradigm, both in academia and for public interest policy analysis.

The overarching challenge has always been the need for better and more defensible energy systems analysis.

Intransparent analysis is a problem  — whether underpinning evolving official policy on climate protection or in relation to industry development plans subject to regulatory oversight.

Members of this informal community were at the forefront of efforts to develop high‑resolution contiguous-time modelling of national energy systems and later to press for the adoption of open source and genuinely open data. And still later for the standards, architectures, and infrastructures required to build a knowledge commons tailored to the domain and able to support open science.

At the outset was a need was to come together to explore processes for building and sharing software within the domain. At the time, formalised software engineering, including code hosting and version control, was almost non‑existent.

Members of the early openmod community also promoted a knowledge commons to enable data sharing. Data is the Achilles heel of high‑resolution modelling. A good level of consensus and cooperation across the domain is needed to create viable research data management (RDM) systems for widespread use.

Data licensing is also pivotal. From the outset, community members pushed key public information providers to adopt suitable open data licensing. Notwithstanding, rights‑encumbered data is still commonplace across Europe and remains a major impediment.

There is a need to bridge to neighbouring disciplines — such as meteorology. And to support discussions on coordinated scenario sets, model comparison protocols, and allied studies.

——

Comment: The first open source energy system framework had been released a decade prior to the start of the openmod, so these concepts and practices were already in some circulation.

Comment by Robbie: A research institution was earlier named in this section, but I decided later to remove that reference. It was the only organisation affiliated with the openmod that had been specifically identified.

What are the main objectives of this practice?

Maximum 2000 characters

▢ 30  ▶

The overarching objective is robust public policy covering energy sector decarbonization.

Energy system models bundle numerous physical, social, and economic constraints, including rate constraints, and thus provide useful reality checks on efforts to achieve net‑zero under remaining carbon budgets — those budgets having been determined by earth systems scientists.

Energy systems models naturally embed system integration objectives. And some formulations allow the use of goal functions other than aggregate least cost — such as minimum emissions or maximum renewables uptake.

At the core of the community are the overlapping concepts of:

  • information sharing and the associated gains from cooperation and consensus standards

  • improved correctness and robustness of numerical modelling through uptake, use, exchange, and deliberation

  • more useful and reliable results through agreed scenario sets and model output comparisons

All have proved viable strategies — despite facing institutional inertia on occasion.

Our concerns about policy biases are not just theoretical — “policy‑based evidence making” (a term popularised by Oliver Geden in the climate domain) is thought to be widespread.

——

See therefore:

Comment: The European Commission has also shifted. For instance, the nascent European Union Cyber Resilience Act is the first time that the open source development paradigm has been acknowledged in statute anywhere in the world. Prior to the introduction of this legislation, all software development was deemed by legislators to be proprietary.

What are the main activities/functions of this practice?

Maximum 2000 characters

▢ 31  ▶

The openmod can be seen as much a process as an entity. So that the functions and activities of the openmod can be cast through that prism.

The openmod provides online and physical forums for researchers and practitioners to meet, exchange, and debate. The openmod also provides some record of these discussions, which can be useful for those coming later. Some measure of this utility can be gleaned from compliments posted in reply on the openmod forum, for instance.

Those discussions can traverse a range of topics. For just one example, the forum has a thread on the recent United Kingdom Home Energy Model (HEM) proposal — which seeks to write a dedicated open‑source building thermal performance model into national legislation.

Openmod members also run periodic scientific workshops on behalf of the community.

The community also keeps a video record of some of its workshops through its dedicated YouTube channel.

——

Comment: The HEM example shows how unlikely connections between participants can result from the presence of tailored channels.

4. Practice Impact

Please provide some information about the impact of your practice.

Please outline 3–5 concrete results/outcomes of your practice.

Maximum 1000 characters

▢ 32  ▶

  • ten years in existence (in September)

  • 18 scientific workshops (listed on Wikipedia)

  • 1400 screened subscribers on our discussion forum, a similar number on our public mailing list

  • an audiovisual record on YouTube: four videos have attracted over one thousand views and there are about 40 clips in total (and more in the pipeline from the two previous workshops)

Which elements of the practice were fully new? Which elements were improvements of existing approaches?

Maximum 1000 characters

▢ 33  ▶

Establishing uniqueness is always challenging. But it is likely that the openmod is novel in the sense that it was the first organisation in any domain to coalesce around public interest analysis, a high reliance on external, often industry‑sourced, datasets, and the use of open science principles.

Open science initiatives in other domains are often more self‑contained at their core — and therefore much better placed to generate and manage their own research assets.

What sets your approach apart from others? Are there similar projects? How does your practice compare to them?

Maximum 1000 characters

▢ 34  ▶

It is worth noting that the Linux Foundation LF Energy initiative is more recent and strongly focused on open source software relative to other aspects of the analytical workflow. For instance, LF Energy do not prioritise the need for genuinely open standards to underpin model and data design.

——

Comment: Unlike source code and collected data, there is no accepted definition for open standards and no process for approving public licenses. Standards encumbered by patents would clearly fall outside any definition of open.

Is the practice repeatable and/or designed for long-term use? How?

Maximum 1000 characters

▢ 35  ▶

The openmod was always a long‑term endeavour. Many countries now have net‑zero target years of 2045 or 2050. But recent developments — both scientific and judicial — have shown that these official timeframes are too often unlikely to be realised.

The open modelling of systems was always seen as a potential contribution to more rapid progress on decarbonization by identifying feasible pathways and exposing infeasible pathways.

More recently, modelling projects within the community have begun to experiment with the use of open analysis to assist public consultation and possibly even aid public acceptance.

Is the practice transferable to other settings (other circumstances/other geographical regions)? How?

Maximum 1000 characters

▢ 36  ▶

The are many opportunities for transfer. The openmod forum subscribers hail from many regions. Workshops have been held in Europe and the United States and could easily be held anywhere.

That said, the openmod has no ability to fund travel, workshops, or other support to expedite cooperation and exchange (noting that exchange is different from transfer) with the global south. Our operation is entirely volunteer.

Was the solution developed in a collaborative setting? If so, how/with whom?

Maximum 1000 characters

▢ 37  ▶

Collaboration was and is at the heart of the openmod.

Have you reached out to peers/experts/relevant stakeholders at any time during your practice?

Maximum 1000 characters

▢ 38  ▶

Openmod participants have made submissions on data legislation within Europe, including on public sector information (PSI). Participants have lobbied for improved data licensing practices by public agencies, including BNetzA, ENTSO‑E, and the IEA. This led to the adoption of Creative Commons attribution licensing on the BNetzA SMART website.

The openmod coordinated an open letter to the IEA seeking CC‑BY‑4.0 licensing. This was reported as Ambrose, Jillian (10 December 2021). “Energy watchdog urged to give free access to government data”. The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. ISSN 0261-3077.

——

Comment: This lack of appropriate open licensing on energy sector data presents a significant impediment for both research and outreach in Europe — indeed, none of this material would class as intellectual property in the United States and most of the problems that European researchers face in this regard would evaporate in an instant if US law applied. For context see:

Comment: The IEA faces a problem in that 25% of its income derives from the sale of proprietary data and to migrate to open data would require that member countries contribute substantially more.

Did you do research on existing best practices when developing your practice?

Maximum 1000 characters

▢ 39  ▶

That question is probably better directed to projects and initiatives within our community. The openmod cannot take credit for such efforts, but equally it has probably provided some useful contexts.

Do you actively share your insights/findings with others (e.g. in conferences, consortiums, workshops)?

Maximum 1000 characters

▢ 40  ▶

Yes. All material is made public under Creative Commons Attribution licenses or similar — specifically CC‑BY‑4.0, CC0‑1.0, and MIT licenses, sometimes with SPDX AND and OR operators when needed.

See comments elsewhere about our workshops and discussion channels. Everything made public is explicitly open licensed, except mailing list contributions.

——

Comment: The SPDX system is a way of classifying public licenses and was developed by the Linux Foundation.

Did you evaluate the impact of your practice using science-based methods? If so, please describe key quantitative and/or qualitative data findings here.

Maximum 1000 characters

▢ 41  ▶

The short answer is no.

How did your target group and/or other stakeholders evaluate the practice? Please share feedback.

Maximum 1000 characters

▢ 42  ▶

The openmod workshops always include a group debriefing. And our online forums provide an accessible channel for discussions and reflections of this nature.

Where do you see room for improvement in your practice?

Maximum 1000 characters

▢ 43  ▶

The gender balance within our community is poor but improving. We have no programmes covering diversity and inclusion, but workshop organisers may and do implement their own diversity and inclusion policies for their events.

Why do you think this practice should win the award?

Maximum 1000 characters

▢ 44  ▶

The concept behind the community was relatively novel at the outset. Some of those earlier ideas are now becoming mainstream. Arguably, open source modelling frameworks are now at the cusp of being the default for public policy usage. That said, there is still very significant public policy built on the back of intransparent black‑box modeling — covering both government strategy and industry regulation. Open data licensing remains a largely unsolved challenge, despite a decade of effort by community members.

Importantly, many of the ideas that the openmod promotes — particularly around open data and open standards — would benefit from the recognition that this award might bring.

An acknowledgement of quiet work that takes place in our entirely volunteer community could also be fitting.

——

Comment: Many public agencies and also modelling teams have switched to open frameworks. Notable examples include the US Energy Information Administration, parts of the European Commission, and the TIMES Model Generator.

And nowadays too, most integrated assessment models (IAMs). While noting that energy system models and IAMs use different numerical paradigms and are directed toward different research questions.

But equally, the models that underpin Germany’s long‑term scenarios (Langfristszenarien) from the Economics Ministry (BMWK) are entirely opaque. Ditto for most of the European TYNDP (Ten Year Network Development Plans) currently active or under consideration.

Comment: A quick scan of the Open Data category on the openmod forum will reveal how problematic the lack of open data is to system modellers.

5. Practice Media

Please upload up to five high-resolution photos or graphic visualisations that illustrate your practice.

You may also include links to online media in the space provided.

These materials may be used for communication purposes. Please also indicate the copyrights of the pictures in the space provided.

All material provided is licensed under Creative Commons CC‑BY‑4.0.

Please extract the EXIF data for caption details, location information, and the Creative Commons license notices. The links provided are web resolution but 20 MPx images are available on request.

There are other photos too, we can talk about the selection of images later if that would help.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Image 5

Link to online media (video, image, graphic)

▢ 55  ▶

The openmod YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@openmod-initiative/videos

Link to online media (video, image, graphic)

▢ 56  ▶

openmod logo: https://forum.openmod.org/uploads/db8804/original/1X/403c48b6c244505d862d15487c47151626abb316.png

Comment: Too simple to be protected by copyright.

6. Practice Partners

Please provide some basic information about your practice partners (if any).

NA, we do not have practice partners in any explicit sense.

Practice Partner 1

  • Contact Person  ▢ 57  ▶  NA
  • Organisation  ▢ 58  ▶  NA
  • Country  ▢ 59  ▶  NA
  • Email Address  ▢ 60  ▶  NA

Practice Partner 2

  • Contact Person  ▢ 61  ▶  NA
  • Organisation  ▢ 62  ▶  NA
  • Country  ▢ 63  ▶  NA
  • Email Address  ▢ 64  ▶  NA

Practice Partner 3

  • Contact Person  ▢ 65  ▶  NA
  • Organisation  ▢ 66  ▶  NA
  • Country  ▢ 67  ▶  NA
  • Email Address  ▢ 68  ▶  NA

7. Stakeholder/Expert Testimonials

Please attach a short stakeholder or expert testimonial to your nomination (±1000 characters). This testimonial is meant to show an external view/assessment of your practice and should answer how effective and valuable your target group and/or other relevant stakeholders think your practice is.

It can come from a client using the project, a civil society representative or scientist/scholar active in an area that your practice concerns or any other expert you deem appropriate. Please also provide the person's contact information for further inquiries.

Testimonial 1

Maximum 2000 characters

▢ 69  ▶

Alexander Sander is a senior policy consultant with the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE). FSFE’s primary role is to advocate for Free Software and to empower people to control technology. One of our key campaigns is Public Money? Public Code! (PMPC), whereby software developed with public funds should be licensed under a Free Software licence and made freely available for others to use and improve.

My understanding is that most of the software used to analyse energy systems is developed within research institutes and universities. And thus easily falls under our PMPC programme. The FSFE knows well the technical benefits of this style of software development. But the results of these systems models are also used to inform public policy and may even influence public opinion. In this context, Free Software offers a level of transparency that is not possible with closed source software.

I am broadly familiar with the work of the Open Energy Modelling Initiative (openmod) and the FSFE will soon profile the openmod community as part of our series of interviews exploring Free Software in action. On behalf of the FSFE, I support the openmod application for an RGI Good Practice Award in 2024.

Stakeholder/Expert 1 Contact Information

  • Name  ▢ 70  ▶  Alexander Sander
  • Company  ▢ 71  ▶  Free Software Foundation Europe
  • Country  ▢ 72  ▶  Germany
  • Email Address  ▢ 73  ▶  alex.sander@fsfe.org
  • Phone Number  ▢ 74  ▶  +49.30.27595290

Testimonial 2

Maximum 2000 characters

▢ 75  ▶

I am happy to provide a recommendation for the Open Energy Modelling Initiative (openmod) regarding the 2024 RGI Good Practice Award. Instrat was already present at the 2020 openmod workshop in Berlin, followed by developing our PyPSA‑PL model that informed Instrat’s 2021 report on grid development needs in Poland. I personally attended the Grenoble workshop in March 2024, where I had an opportunity to disseminate our most recent energy modelling work. The openmod has largely created and defined the domain of open energy systems modelling and many of its foundational components. Its presence has been a game-changer for Instrat as it provides legitimacy for our bottom-up modelling project.

The openmod community has remained true to its original mission, and the fact that developers of major modelling frameworks, such as PyPSA, actively participate and contribute is a testament to the community’s impact. It is also encouraging to see that young researchers are engaging in the community. In my opinion, the efforts of the openmod community to make energy planning worldwide more transparent significantly contribute to tackling the climate crisis — which deserves appreciation.

Patryk Kubiczek is an energy modeller at Instrat, a Warsaw-based think-tank that uses open data and research to supercharge policies and public opinion for a fair, green, and digital economy.

Stakeholder/Expert 2 Contact Information

  • Name  ▢ 76  ▶  Patryk Kubiczek
  • Company  ▢ 77  ▶  Instrat
  • Country  ▢ 78  ▶  Poland
  • Email Address  ▢ 79  ▶  —
  • Phone Number  ▢ 80  ▶  +48.519.466422