Open Source Software (OSS) for
Electricity Market Research,
Teaching, and Training

Last Updated: 25 February 2024

Site Developed By:
Leigh Tesfatsion
Professor Emerita of Economics
Courtesy Research Professor of
    Electrical & Computer Engineering
Heady Hall 260
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011-1054
https://www2.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/
tesfatsi AT iastate.edu

General Electricity Resources
Agent-Based Electricity Research
Electric Power System Schematic


Software Release Disclaimer:
All software provided below is unsupported and provided as-is, without warranty of any kind, unless otherwise specified by the provider.

Materials Linked to Date:

Overview

The U.S. electric power industry is currently undergoing substantial changes in both its structure (ownership and technology aspects) and its architecture (operational and oversight aspects). These changes involve attempts to move the industry away from highly regulated markets with administered cost-based pricing and towards competitive markets in which prices more fully reflect supply and demand forces. The goal of these changes is to provide industry participants with better incentives to control costs and introduce innovations. The process of enacting and implementing policies and laws to bring about these changes has come to be known as restructuring.

This restructuring process has been controversial. The meltdown in the restructured California wholesale power market in the summer of 2000 has demonstrated how unintended consequences can arise when complex market designs are implemented without sufficient pre-testing. Following the California crisis, many energy researchers have called for the development of test beds combining sound physical understanding of power system operations with economic analysis of incentives to help ensure that electricity market designs have good real-world performance characteristics.

Many commercially available packages for power system analysis now incorporate components critical for the simulation of restructured electricity markets (e.g. optimal power flow solvers). However, lack of open-source access prevents users from gaining a complete and accurate understanding of what has been implemented, restricts the ability of users to experiment with new software features, and hinders users from tailoring software to specific needs. In addition, these packages can be cumbersome to use for research, teaching, and training purposes requiring intensive experimentation and sensitivity analyses.

The goal of this resource site is to encourage the study of restructured electricity markets from a perspective that adequately addresses both economic and engineering concerns. Annotated pointers are provided to open source software (OSS) facilitating the modeling of electricity markets as commercial networks of strategically interacting traders and regulatory agencies learning to operate through time over realistically rendered transmission grids.

A compilation of tools for smart grid modeling and simulation (both commercial and OSS) is presented and discussed in the following article: Ricardo M. Czekster, "Tools for Modelling and Simulating the Smart Grid" (pdf,389KB) arXiv:2011.07968v3 [cs.PF], 19 November 2020.

Suggestions regarding additional pertinent links for this OSS resource site are most welcome. Links are sought for OSS libraries, computational laboratories, simulators, toolkits, evaluative studies, and management systems that could potentially facilitate electricity market research, teaching, and training.

OSS for Electricity Market Simulation

AMES Wholesale Power Market Test Bed (Java/Python)

The AMES Wholesale Power Market Test Bed is a modular, extensible, open source software platform developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Iowa State University, with support from researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. AMES captures salient features of U.S. RTO/ISO-managed wholesale power markets operating over high-voltage transmission grids during successive days, with grid congestion handled by Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP). AMES is an acronym for Agent-based Modeling of Electricity Systems.

AMES has been specifically designed as a support tool for research, teaching, and training purposes. Documentation, tutorials, and links to code/data software repositories for all AMES version releases to date are provided at the above-linked AMES homepage.

Code/data for AMES V5.0 (2021), the latest released version of AMES, can also be directly accessed at: AMES V5.0 (GitHub Repository)

ERCOT Test System (Java/Python, implemented in part by AMES V5.0)

The ERCOT Test System (GitHub Repository) was developed by Swathi Battula and Leigh Tesfatsion (at Iowa State University) and Thomas E. McDermott (at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory).

In default mode, the ERCOT Test System models ISO-managed day-ahead and real-time markets in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) energy region operating over a high-voltage transmission grid during successive days, with grid congestion handled by Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP). Market participants include dispatchable generators, load-serving entities, and/or non-dispatchable generation such as unfirmed wind and solar power. The transmission grid is constructed by means of a synthetic grid construction method developed by Tom Overbye and collaborators, which is included in the download of the ERCOT Test System package.

Users can configure a broad variety of parameters to study basic ERCOT market and grid features under alternative system conditions. Users can also easily extend the test system's Java/Python software classes to study modified or newly envisioned market and grid features.

In addition, the test system is integrated with a high-level simulation framework that permits it to function as a software component within larger systems, such as multiple seamed energy regions or integrated transmission and distribution systems.

A detailed description of the ERCOT Test System, together with illustrative 8-bus and 200-bus ERCOT test cases, can be found in the following paper:

  • Swathi Battula, Leigh Tesfatsion, and Thomas E. McDermott, "An ERCOT Test System for Market Design Studies" (WP Preprint,3.5MB), Applied Energy, Vol. 275, 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115182

FESTIV (MATLAB/GAMS)

FESTIV (Flexible Energy Scheduling Tool for Integration of Variable resources) is a steady-state power system modeling tool for the study of resource scheduling operations in day-ahead and real-time wholesale power markets. All timing parameters and operating schemes are completely configurable by the user either directly via the GUI or via the implementation of user defined modeling modifications.

FESTIV captures multiple temporal horizons in the optimal scheduling process for energy and ancillary services, including: Day-Ahead Security Constrained Unit Commitment (DA-SCUC), with default options to solve once a day, with hourly resolution, looking ahead 24 hours; Real-Time Security Constrained Unit Commitment (RT-SCUC), with default options for solving every 15 minutes, with 15 minute resolution, looking ahead 3 hours; and Real-Time Security Constrained Economic Dispatch (RT-SCED), with default options for solving every 5 minutes, with 5 minute resolution, looking ahead one hour. FESTIV further extends the simulation granularity by implementing an Automatic Generation Control (AGC) module, solved every 4 seconds. The AGC module permits FESTIV to simulate the deployment of reserves (e.g. regulation) and the real-time balancing of generation and demand. Thus, FESTIV supports the use of reliability metrics (CPS, BAAL,...) based on area control error as well standard economic performance metrics (production cost, LMPs, ...).

FESTIV is written in MATLAB and leverages GAMS with a MILP solver (CPLEX or Gurobi) to perform optimizations. Thus, use of FESTIV requires licenses for both MATLAB and GAMS.

ISO-NE Test System (Java/Python, implemented in part by AMES V4.0)

The 8-Zone ISO-NE Test System was developed by Dheepak Krishnamurthy, Wanning Li, and Leigh Tesfatsion at Iowa State University. The 8-Zone ISO-NE Test System is implemented in part by means of AMES V4.0.

The 8-Zone ISO-NE Test System is based on structural attributes and data from the ISO New England (ISO-NE) energy region. A description of this test system, together with illustrative applications, can be found in the following two papers:

  • Wanning Li and Leigh Tesfatsion, "An 8-Zone ISO-NE Test System with Physically-Based Wind Power," (pdf,870KB), Economics Working Paper No. 17017, Department of Economics, Iowa State University, January 2017.

  • Dheepak Krishnamurthy, Wanning Li, and Leigh Tesfatsion, "An 8-Zone Test System based on ISO New England Data: Development and Application" (pdf,642KB), IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 31, Issue 1, January 2016, 234-246.

ITD Household Model (Python)

The ITD Household Model (GitHub repository) was developed by S. Battula and L. Tesfatsion at Iowa State University, with support from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), as part of the ITD Project.

The ITD Household Model consists of Python coding and test-case data for a household electrically connected to a distribution grid within an Integrated Transmission and Distribution (ITD) system. The household is able to participate in a bid-based Transactive Energy System (TES) design implemented within the ITD system.

ITD TES Platform V2 (co-simulation platform, Java/Python/C++/C)

The ITD TES Platform V2 (GitHub Repository) was developed by S. Battula and L. Tesfatsion at Iowa State University, with support from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), as part of the ITD Project.

The ITD TES Platform V2 is a co-simulation platform that permits the modeling and implementation of an Integrated Transmission and Distribution (ITD) system operating over successive days. The platform is specifically tailored to facilitate performance testing of bid-based Transactive Energy System (TES) designs proposed for implementation within ITD systems.

JASA: Java Auction Simulator API

Steve Phelps (Ripple Software, LTD) has developed an open-source Java class library called JASA (Java Auction Simulator API) for the simulation of auctions with learning traders. Included in JASA are classes specifically developed for electricity auction simulation.

MASCEM: Electricity Markets Simulator with Strategic Agents

Zita Vale and her collaborators at the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal, have developed the Multiagent Simulator of Competitive Electricity Markets (MASCEM). Abstract from above site: "The MASCEM multiagent model includes players with strategies for bid definition, acting in forward, day-ahead, and balancing markets and considering both simple and complex bids. Our goal with MASCEM was to simulate as many market models and player types as possible. This approach makes MASCEM both a short and medium term simulation as well as a tool to support long-term decisions, such as those taken by regulators. This article proposes a new methodology integrated in MASCEM for bid definition in electricity markets. This methodology uses reinforcement learning algorithms to let players perceive changes in the environment, thus helping them react to the dynamic environment and adapt their bids accordingly."

MinPower: Electric Power Market Simulator (Python)

MinPower is an open source toolkit for students and researchers in power systems. It is designed to make working with economic dispatch, optimal power flow, and unit commitment problems simple and beautiful. The goal is to foster collaboration with other researchers and to make learning easier for students. MinPower is written in Python, can use many solvers, and creates nice plots. The project is currently developed and maintained by Adam Greenhall, University of Washington, USA.

Tools for Assessment of Bidding Into Electricity Auctions (Java)

Steven Puller (Texas A&MB) and Ross Baldick (University of Texas, Austin) have developed a public domain academic-grade tool to assess the competitiveness of offers into electricity auctions operating over transmission grids subject to transmission constraints. The prototype is written in the Java language, and is released as open source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). To obtain the zipped tool and example file, visit here.

Open Source Software for Power Flow and Optimal Power Flow

A key stumbling block to developing OSS for general academic research into restructured electricity markets in the U.S. and elsewhere is the lack of OSS for AC/DC optimal power flow (OPF) problems. In the U.S., market operators of restructured wholesale power markets must repeatedly solve AC/DC OPF problems in order to generate unit commitment and dispatch schedules, as well as locational marginal prices (LMPs), for both spot and forward energy markets.

Developing algorithms for the successful solution of optimization problems involving mixed collections of equality and inequality constraints, even when specialized to quadratic objective functions (as in some DC OPF approximations to AC OPF problems), is a daunting task full of pitfalls for the unwary. (An excellent introduction to this topic can be found in R. Fletcher, Practical Methods of Optimization, Second Edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York, c. 1987.)

This section includes annotated pointers to OSS for AC/DC OPF and power flow problems for research, teaching, and training purposes. Readers with a particular interest in the real-world deployment of OSS optimization tools can consult the following review:

Markuc Groissböck, "Are open source energy system optimization tools mature enough for serious use?", Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 102 (2019), 234-248. DOI Site

ANDES: DAE Power Systems Analysis (Python)

The research center CURENT has released the open-source Python software ANDES for power system analysis developed with NSF and DOE support. This software could be of interest to researchers working on Differential-Algebraic Equation (DAE) modeling, simulation, and control for power systems. It has features that may be useful to researchers applying deep (reinforcement) learning to such systems. In general, ANDES was developed to support simple expandable models for the grid and provide a powerful platform for power system researchers.

DCOPFJ: A Bid/Offer-Based DC-OPF Solver (Java)

The DCOPFJ Package, developed entirely in Java by a team of researchers at Iowa State University, is a free open-source stand-alone solver for small to medium-sized bid/offer-based DC optimal power flow problems having a strictly convex quadratic programming (SCQP) formulation.

The DCOPFJ package incorporates an SCQP solver (QuadProgJ) wrapped in an outer SI-to-PU data processing shell. QuadProgJ implements the well-known dual active-set SCQP algorithm developed by Goldfarb and Idnani (1983). QuadProgJ has been shown to match or exceed the accuracy of the proprietary C-language QP solver BPMPD (highly recommended by MATPOWER) when tested on a public repository of small to medium-sized SCQP problems.

The DCOPFJ package has been successfully run on DC-OPF test cases commonly used for training purposes.

MATACDC (Matlab)

MATACDC is a free Matlab-based open source program for AC/DC power flow analysis. The program uses a sequential power flow algorithm and can be used to simulate interconnected AC systems, HVDC Grids and Voltage Source Converter High Voltage Direct Current (VSC HVDC) systems in general. The package has been fully integrated with the existing AC power flow routines developed in MATPOWER, while keeping the MATPOWER original source code unaltered. The project is currently developed and maintained by Jef Berteen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.

MatDyn (Matlab)

MatDyn is a free Matlab-based open source program to perform dynamic analysis of electric power systems. It is inspired by Matpower, a power flow and optimal power flow program in Matlab and shares its philosophy: "It is intended as a simulation tool for researchers and educators that is easy to use and modify." The source code for MatDyn is available here. The developers note that care been taken to keep it well structured and easy to understand. The project is currently developed and maintained by Stijn Cole, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.

MATPOWER (Matlab-Based)

MATPOWER, developed by a team of researchers at Cornell University, is a free open-source software package for power system analysis, aimed primarily at solving power flow and optimal power flow problems. MATPOWER is intended as a simulation tool for researchers and educators that is easy to use and modify. MATPOWER can run on GNU/Octave, which is basically a free Matlab clone. The latest version of MATPOWER can be accessed at MATPOWER GitHub repository, where MATPOWER development takes place.

A detailed description of MATPOWER's OPF formulation can be found in the following article: Ray D. Zimmerman, Carlos E. Murillo-Sánchez, and Robert J. Thomas, "MATPOWER: Steady-State Operations, Planning, and Analysis Tools for Power Systems Research and Education" (doi), IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 26, No. 1, Feb 2011, 12-19.

MATPOWER (V6.0 and later) includes MOST (The MATPOWER Optimal Scheduling Tool), a framework for solving generalized stead-state electric power scheduling problems.

A description of MOST can be found in the following article: Carlos E. Murillo-Sánchez, Ray D. Zimmerman, C. Lindsay Anderson, and Robert J. Thomas, "Secure Planning and Operations of Systems with Stochastic Sources, Energy Storage and Active Demand" (doi), IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, Vol. 4, No. 4, Dec. 2013, 2220-2229.

PSAT: Power System Analysis Toolbox (Matlab-Based)

The Power System Analysis Toolbox (PSAT), originally developed by Federico Milano, is a Matlab-based software package for analysis and design of small to medium-sized electric power systems. The main features of PSAT include: power flow; continuation power flow; optimal power flow; small signal stability analysis; time-domain simulation; Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) placement; FACTS models; and wind turbine models. All operations can be accessed by means of graphical user interfaces, and a Simulink-based library provides a user-friendly tool for network design.

Matlab is a commercial product whose kernel and libraries cannot be modified or freely distributed. However, PSAT can run on GNU/Octave, which is basically a free Matlab clone.

PYPOWER (Python/MATPOWER)

PYPOWER is a power flow and Optimal Power Flow (OPF) solver. It is a port of MATPOWER to the Python programming language. Current features include: (i)DC and AC (Newton’s method and Fast Decoupled) power flow; and (ii) DC and AC optimal power flow (OPF). PYPOWER sourcecode can be accessed at python.org or github.

Synthetic Power Flow and OPF (PowerWorld/MATPOWER)

A set of larger-scale Synthetic Power Flow and OPF Models have been developed as OSS by Tom Overbye and collaborators at Texas A&M, UIUC, Cornell, ASU, and VCU. Synthetic PF/OPF models are fictitious representations designed to be statistically and functionally similar to actual electric power grids while containing no confidental information on critical energy infrastructure. The models are available in a variety of formats, including PowerWorld Simulator and MATPOWER. Visualizations for several of the synthetic electric power grids can be viewed here.

Other Supporting Open Source Software

Dia: Diagram Creation Program

Dia is a GTK+ based diagram creation program for GNU/Linux, MacOS X, Unix, and Windows, and is released under the GPL license. Dia is roughly inspired by the commercial Windows program 'Visio,' though more geared towards informal diagrams for casual use. It can be used to draw many different kinds of diagrams. It currently has special objects to help draw entity relationship diagrams, UML diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, and many other diagrams. It is also possible to add support for new shapes by writing simple XML files, using a subset of SVG to draw the shape. For more information about Dia, visit here.

DSSim-PC: Graphical Interface for OpenDSS

DDSim-PC is the non-deterministic version of the DSSim-RT simulator. It is based on EPRI's OpenDSS and can be used a a graphical interface for OpenDSS. The first version of DSSim-PC was released to the public on July 20, 2013.

EPOCHS: Electric Power and Communication Synchronizing Simulator

EPOCHS is an agent-based distributed simulation environment that combines multiple research and commercial off-the-shelf systems: namely, the PSAD/EMTDC electromagnetic transient simulator, the PSLF elctromechanical transient simulator, and the Network Simulator 2 (NS2). The resulting combined simulator permits the study of electric power scenarios incorporating new communication protocols.

For more information about EPOCHS, see the following article: Kenneth Hopkinson, Xiaoru Wang, Renan Giovanini, James Thorp, Kenneth Birman, and Denis Coury, "EPOCHS: A Platform for Agent-Based Electric Power and Communication Simulation Built from Commercial Off-the-Shelf Components" (pdf,235KB), IEEE Transactions on Power Systems 21(2), 2006, 548-558.

GridLAB-D: Electric Energy Distribution Platform (C++/C)

GridLAB-D is a power distribution simulation platform developed by the U.S. Department of Energy at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington. See here (pdf,2.9MB) for a useful summary discussion of GridLAB-D features, capabilities, and power system applications.

PNNL maintains a GridLAB-D Site at SourceForge.

HELICS (Co-Simulation Framework)

The Hierarchical Engine for Large-scale Infrastructure Co-Simulation ("HELICS") is a co-simulation OSS platform developed for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by researchers at three U.S. national laboratories (PNNL, NREL, LLNL). HELICS facilitates power system analyses that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries. An example would be a study investigating the impact of distribution-level assets (e.g., rooftop solar, EV chargers) on bulk power system operations that combines tools from a variety of domains (electrical power, natural gas, transportation, and communications). The technical design of the HELICS platform, the integration of tools into the platform, and illustrative analyses that have been implemented by means of the platform are detailed in a 2024 Report. A short video summary of this report can be found here.

InterPSS: Internet-Based Software System

The Internet Technology-based Open-source Power System Simulation (InterPSS) System is an open-source project whose goal is to develop a simple to use, yet powerful, Internet technology based software system for design, analysis, and simulation of power systems. Its open and loosely coupled system architecture will allow components developed by others to be easily plugged into the system to augment its functionality, and equally important, allow its components to be integrated into other systems to provide certain power system simulation functionality or services. The project is currently under development by a team of developers living in the United States, Canada and China.

Java Scientific Library (Michael Thomas Flanagan)

Michael Thomas Flanagan (EE, University College London, UKB) has developed and released as open-source software a Java scientific library to support both his own electrical engineering research and his undergraduate programming courses and projects. Included in the library are links to source files and documentation for classes handling a wide variety of numerical functions, including: inut/output; graph plotting; mathematical functions and physical constants; random numbers and deviates; error propagation; regression; optimization; Fourier transform and short-time Fourier transform; numerical integration; interpolation; root searching; matrices; complex arithmetic; circuits; impedance spectroscopy; optics; reflexivity; and control and system engineering routines.

LP_Solve: Linear Programming Toolkit

LP_solve is a free linear (integer) programming solver based on the revised simplex method and the Branch-and-bound method for the integers. It contains full source, examples and manuals. LP_solve solves pure linear, (mixed) integer/binary, semi-continuous and special ordered sets (SOS) models. For general information about LP_Solve, visit here. For downloads, go to LP_Solve versions at sourceforge.net.

Open DSS: Distribution System Simulator (MS Windows Operating Environment)

The Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI) has made its Open Source Distribution System Simulator (OpenDSS) program available as an open source project. The OpenDSS software is a comprehensive electrical power system simulation tool for electric utility distribution systems. The program has been developed for the Microsoft Windows environment. It supports nearly all frequency domain (sinusoidal steady-state) analyses commonly performed on electric utility power distribution systems. In addition, it supports many new types of analyses that are designed to meet future needs related to grid modernization efforts. Additionally, this open source program may encourage the user community to contribute useful models that might help others active in grid modernization.

Pandapower: Power System Modeling and Analysis (Python, Open Source)

Pandapower is a Python based, BSD-licensed power system analysis tool aimed at automation of static and quasi-static analysis and optimization of balanced power systems. It provides power flow, optimal power flow, state estimation, topological graph searches and short circuit calculations according to IEC 60909.

Documentation for PandaPower can be found here. The code is available through pypi and through pip (‘pip install pandapower’).

pvlib python: PV Energy System Simulation Package (Python, Open Source)

pvlib python (GitHub Repository) is a community-supported open source tool that provides a set of functions and classes for simulating the performance of photovoltaic energy systems. The pvlib python tool provides reference-model implementations relevant for the study of solar energy, including: algorithms for solar position; clear sky irradiance; irradiance transposition; DC power; and DC-to-AC power conversion.

pvlib python has been developed by contributors from academia, national laboratories, and private industry. pvlib python is released with a BSD 3-clause license allowing permissive use with attribution. For more information, visit here.

SimSEE: Platform for the Simulation of Systems of Electrical Energy (Object-Oriented Technology, Open Source)

SimSEE (Freepascal/Sourceforge Repository) is a platform for the Simulation of Systems of Electrical Energy. It permits users to create simulators tailored to specific systems of interest simply by adding desired types and numbers of Actors (e.g., thermal, wind, solar and hydraulic generators, demands, interconnections,...) to a Game Hall (simulation environment). These Actors behave in the Game Hall according to their type. Since SimSee is 100% programmed with Object Oriented technology, it is also easy for users to create new types of Actors.

To simulate the optimal operation of an electric power system, SimSEE solves a Dynamic Stochastic Programming problem to obtain an optimal operation policy. Starting from given initial system conditions, this optimal operation policy can be used to simulate different possible system outcome trajectories as stochastic-process realizations.

Since 2010, SimSEE has become a commonly-used electric power system modeling tool in Uruguay due mainly to its good stochastic wind and solar energy modeling capabilities for both short-run system operation studies and longer-term investment planning studies.

Storage Value Estimation Tool: DER-VET (Python, Open Source)

The Storage Value Estimation Tool (DER-VET) is an energy storage research and planning tool developed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). It enables the rapid analysis of scenarios with different storage sizes, costs, and value streams. It can therefore assist the determination of optimal storage size, optimal storage location, and optimal storage control options.

OSS Management Systems

Comparison of Four OSS Configuration Management Systems

David Wheeler maintains a site titled Comments on OSS/FS Software Configuration Management Systems providing comparisons of the following four systems: CVS, Subversion, GNU Arch, and Monotone.

Evaluation of OSS for Electricity Markets

Evaluation of OSS LP Software for Electricity Spot Market Optimization

Stuart R. Thorncraft, Hugh R. Outhred, and David J. Clements, "Evaluation of Open-Source LP Optimization Codes in Solving Electricity Spot Market Optimization Problems" (pdf,81KB), 19th Mini-European Conference on Operations Research Models and Methods in the Energy Sector, Coimbra, Portugal, September 6-8, 2006.
Abstract: The authors investigate the performance of three linear programming packages --- GLPK, COIN-LP (CLP), and LPSOLVE -- for the determination of optimal locational marginal prices (LMPs) and dispatch levels for electricity spot markets.

OSS General Reference Materials

LF Energy (LFE): Collaborative Open-Source Environment Focused on Power Systems

LF Energy (LFE) is an open source initiative, focused on power systems, that is overseen and hosted at The Linux Foundation. LFE provides a neutral, collaborative environment to build digital foundations to enable the "electrification of everything to scale." The goal of LFE is to transform the world’s relationship to energy.

Development of Open Source Synthetic Power Grids

Tom Overbye, "Synthetic Power Grid Models: What Are They, How They're Made, and Why They Matter", PSERC Webinar, March 15, 2016. (pdf,1.6MB)

Development of Open Source Software

Karl Fogel, "Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project (pdf,694KB), 184 pages, copyright 2005 under a CreativeCommons Attribution-ShareAlike license.
Abstract: This book is meant for software developers and managers who are either planning to start an OSS project or who are concerned with the effective maintenance of an ongoing OSS project. Topics covered include: (1) History of OSS; (2) Getting Started (choosing a name, mission statement, license, documentation, etc.); (3) Technical Infrastructure (project needs, mailing lists, version control, bug tracker, Wikis, websites); (4) Social and Political Infrastructure; (5) Money (types of involvement, contracting, funding, marketing); (6) Communications (structure and formatting, avoiding common pitfalls, handling difficult people, handling growth, publicity); (7) Packaging, Releasing, and Daily Development (release numbering, packaging, testing and releasing, maintaining multiple release lines); (8) Managing volunteers; (9) Licenses, Copyrights, and Patents (MIT/X Window System License, GNU General Public License, BSD License, copyrighting, dual licensing, patents); (10) Useful Appendices (free version control systems, free bug trackers, copyright forms, etc.).

Hongyan Li and Leigh Tesfatsion, "Development of Open Source Software for Power Market Research: The AMES Test Bed" (pdf Preprint,628KB), Journal of Energy Markets, Vol. 2, No. 2, Summer 2009, 111-128.
Abstract: Open Source Software (OSS) expresses the idea that developers should be able to license the publication of their software in a manner permitting anyone to freely use, modify, and distribute the software. Today OSS is widely used in the software industry, such as for language development tools (e.g., NetBeans for Java), office document processors (e.g., OpenOffice), and operating systems (e.g., Linux, OpenSolaris). Yet OSS has been slow to penetrate the power industry; heavy reliance is still placed on closed-source commercial software packages. The OSS in use tends to be for specialized purposes (e.g., circuit design) rather than for the general-purpose analysis of power systems. This study discusses potential benefits and drawbacks of developing OSS for power market research, using the AMES Wholesale Power Market Test Bed for concrete illustration.

Stefan Pfenninger et al., "Opening the Black Box of Energy Modelling: Strategies and Lessons Learned" (pdf,326KB), Energy Strategy Reviews, Vol. 19, 2018, 63-71.
Abstract: The global energy system is undergoing a major transition, and in energy planning and decision-making across governments, industry and academia, models play a crucial role. Because of their policy relevance and contested nature, the transparency and open availability of energy models and data are of particular importance. Here we provide a practical how-to guide based on the collective experience of members of the Open Energy Modelling Initiative (Openmod). We discuss key steps to consider when opening code and data, including determining intellectual property ownership, choosing a licence and appropriate modelling languages, distributing code and data, and providing support and building communities. After illustrating these decisions with examples and lessons learned from the community, we conclude that even though individual researchers' choices are important, institutional changes are still also necessary for more openness and transparency in energy research.

Stefan Pfenninger et al., "The Importance of Open Data and Software: Is Energy Research Lagging Behind?" (pdf,156KB), Energy Policy, Vol. 101, 2017, 211-215.
Abstract: Energy policy often builds on insights gained from quantitative energy models and their underlying data. As climate change mitigation and economic concerns drive a sustained transformation of the energy sector, transparent and well-founded analyses are more important than ever. We assert that models and their associated data must be openly available to facilitate higher quality science, greater productivity through less duplicated effort, and a more effective science-policy boundary. There are also valid reasons why data and code are not open: ethical and security concerns, unwanted exposure, additional workload, and institutional or personal inertia. Overall, energy policy research ostensibly lags behind other fields in promoting more open and reproducible science. We take stock of the status quo and propose actionable steps forward for the energy research community to ensure that it can better engage with decision-makers and continues to deliver robust policy advice in a transparent and reproducible way.

Free "Open Copyright" OSS Reference Materials

O'Reilly has published (posted) a large number of OSS reference books by O'Reilly authors as free "open" books (i.e., books freely released under various "open" copyright forms) at its Open Book Project Site. Many of these books are at least ten years old, hence presumably out-of-date (by software standards) with regard to current OSS practices. However, one linked resource that should be of great interest to many OSS programmers from an historical perspective is as follows: Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution, O'Reilly, 1st Edition January 1999, 280pp.

Copyright © Leigh Tesfatsion. All Rights Reserved.