The general goal of the project in which this activity is included is the development of methodologies and models useful for identifying planning, technological, and management solutions for multi-energy systems that allow for an increase in system efficiency and safety.

The specific objective of the activity is to develop a modeling chain for multi-energy planning applications at local scale, based on the analysis of energy flows in the territory under examination. The product of this activity will have the distinctive feature of possibly feeding the multi-energy model with input data of the demand and resource characteristic of the territory, elaborated on the basis of ad hoc methodologies and by integrating geographic databases. This report describes the analysis conducted on the multi-energy models available in the literature, in order to select one with characteristics suitable for the applications mentioned above.

Among the different types of models available, particular attention has been paid to those software products capable of simulating systems with high renewable penetration and available with open-data and open-source licenses, in order to take advantage of the synergies and the high level of sharing that distinguish these types of software, while also relying on a tool that can be easily customized to the project needs. The analysis and the selection process benefited from RSE’s participation in the ERA-Net RegSys initiative, which allowed it to acquire a broader and more international vision regarding the topic of Smart Energy Systems and in particular multi-energy systems.

The model to be used has been selected based on a series of features considered indispensable, including the possibility of foreseeing integration options between the different energy sectors (gas, heat, electricity, etc.) and the possibility of interfacing the model with other input data pre-processing tools (and, in particular, with territorial data contained in geodatabases). Following the analysis conducted on open source software and those already in use in the company, the choice fell on the Calliope model, as it is easily modifiable and very versatile in the representation of the different technologies and different energy vectors. In the next Lines of Activity, this model will then be made interfaceable with data processing tools and geodatabases through the development of a specific tool.