Energy conversion - IMAGE
| Corresponding documentation | |
|---|---|
| Previous versions | |
| Model information | |
| Model link | |
| Institution | PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), Netherlands, https://www.pbl.nl/en. |
| Solution concept | Partial equilibrium (price elastic demand) |
| Solution method | Simulation |
| Anticipation | Simulation modelling framework, without foresight. However, a simplified version of the energy/climate part of the model (called FAIR) can be run prior to running the framework to obtain data for climate policy simulations. |
Energy from primary sources often has to be converted into secondary energy carriers that are more easily accessible for final consumption, for example the production of electricity and hydrogen, oil products from crude oil in refineries, and fuels from biomass. Studies on transitions to more sustainable energy systems also show the importance of these conversions for the future.
The energy conversion module of TIMER simulates the choices of input energy carriers in two steps. In the first step, investment decisions are made on the future generation mix in terms of newly added capital. In the second step, the actual use of the capacity in place depends on a set of model rules that determine the purpose and how frequently the different types of power plants are used (baseload/peakload). The discussion focuses on the production of electricity and hydrogen. Other conversion processes have only be implemented in the model by simple multipliers, as they mostly convert energy from a single primary source to one secondary energy carrier. More details on the energy conversion modelling can be found on the Electricity, Heat and Gaseous fuels pages.
An overview of the energy conversion model structure is provided in Figure 1.
References
- ^ | Bastien Girod, Detlef P. van Vuuren, Sebastiaan Deetman (2012). Global travel within the 2°C climate target. Energy Policy, 45 (), 152-166. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.02.008
