2024.11

Additions and improvements for European countries

The countries Norway, Serbia and Switzerland, as well as Great Britain are now available in the ETM. Check out the new countries by selecting them in the region dropdown when starting a new scenario.

For a complete overview of all data that has been used to create the country datasets, have a look at the ETM Dataset Manager. The final energy demand of the countries is matched as much as possible to the country energy balances. As always, there is some room for future improvements, particularly regarding heat and electricity production data. However, we are very excited about this first step of making the new datasets available. Feel free to contact us with suggestions using the contact form.

In addition, improvements have been made of carrier application splits in households for all European country datasets in the ETM, based on the Eurostat final energy consumption in households database. The assumed values in application splits can be found in the ETM Dataset Manager as well. Later in November, this update will be followed by an update of the residential and non-residential building stock, based on numbers from the EU Building Stock Observatory.

Addition of hydrogen and electricity for international transport
Hydrogen and electricity can now both be used to model the demand of international transport. In the International transport section you can model the demand for international transport in your scenario. The modes of transport you can choose from are navigation (by ship) & aviation (by plane). Now you can use hydrogen and electricity as a way to serve the demand for both these modes of transport.

2024 09

2024.09

Deploy September 2024

2024.07

Hybrid offshore wind

It is now possible to explore the role of hybrid offshore wind in future energy systems. The hybrid offshore wind turbines can deliver generated power to the onshore HV network or to an offshore electrolyser. The offshore electrolyser can also receive power from the HV network for hydrogen production.

Explore the new possibilities by setting the installed capacity of the hybrid offshore wind turbines in the Renewable electricity section. Additionally, the relative capacities of the electrolyser and offshore cabling can be set in the Flexibility section.

New charts and a table have also been added to provide insights into the installed capacities, peak load, and annual energy flows of the hybrid offshore wind components. The Sankey diagram below, for example, shows how much energy flows between the components on an annual basis. Explore the new user output yourself in the ETM's list of charts.

Scenario collections

Create collections of saved scenarios and compare their outcomes. The new tab in My Scenarios contains
both your collections, and your transition paths.

Use the new button in the collections tab in My Scenarios to start creating a new collection. Up to
six scenarios you have rights to can be added to your collection.

You can share the link to your collection with anyone, but only people that you have given access
to the scenarios will be able to see them in the viewer.

Opening the collection will open a new viewer, where you can compare your scenarios using the same charts as known from the existing transition paths feature.

2024.05

Addition of BECCUS

The ETM now incorporates Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Utilisation Storage (BECCUS) plants. There are three key updates to explore.

First, biomass power plants have been added to the model. Users can now install capacity for either must-run or dispatchable biomass power plants and CHPs in the Biomass plants section.

Second, it is possible to capture CO₂-emissions from these power plants, by determining which part of the installed capacity is fitted with a CCS unit. This can be set in the Capture of CO2 in energy sector section.

Third, a price for captured biogenic CO₂ has been introduced in the model. This price can be set in the the CCUS section. The revenue that can be obtained from captured biogenic CO₂ is taken into account when determining the marginal costs of power plants or CHPs that run on biogenc fuels and have a CCS unit. It allows these plants to run for lower marginal costs. The costs of all captured biogenic CO₂ is shown in the costs charts.

Hydrogen improvements

The hydrogen section of the model has been improved! Now, flexible production options have been added.
Steam methane reformers, ammonia reformers and autothermal reformers can be installed with dispatchable capacity in addition to the must-run variant of these hydrogen reformer techniques. Explore these changes in the Hydrogen production section.

Next to these flexible producers, the modelling of hydrogen storage has been refined. Now, users can use salt caverns and depleted gas fields as storage options in the model. In addition, users can set both the volume and capacity for these storage options. These features can be found in the Hydrogen storage section.

Together the dispatchable and storage production facilities make up for the flexible hydrogen production routes within the ETM. Which production route should be used first, can be installed by the user via the new hydrogen production merit order. The merit order of production can be set in the Merit order of dispatchable hydrogen production section.

The flexible demand options, which are the two hydrogen storage options for now, can be installed via the new hydrogen demand merit order. The merit order of demand can be set in the Merit order of dispatchable hydrogen demand section.

Multi-user support and scenario version history

It is now possible to collaborate with multiple users on a scenario. Through the My Scenarios overview, you can invite other users of the ETM to one of your scenarios as a Viewer, Collaborator, or Owner. You can also invite persons who don't use the ETM as of yet. Depending on the rights granted, the invitee can view your scenario, make edits and even invite other users to your scenario.

Also, there is now an overview available of the version history of scenarios. This shows old versions of a scenario along with the user who last modified it. You can open the old scenario versions in the ETM, add a description to old versions and restore old scenario versions.

2024.03

Heat modelling in the built environment has been thoroughly revised

The building stock is now disaggregated at a higher level of detail. Households are differentiated by combinations of housing type and construction period, including new construction. For buildings (services) existing and new buildings are distinguished. Additionally, users can set a prioritization to distribute heating technologies across the housing stock. Also, users now have insight into heat deficits per housing category, they can adjust the installed capacities of heating technologies, and have the ability to set two different representations of the thermostat profile per combination of technology and building category. Development of heat demand can also be set per building category in kWh/m2.

Explore the new heat modelling in the Households and Buildings sections.

Costs export functionality updated & expanded

The costs export functionality of the ETM has undergone a major update! The download now provides much more detailed information on a scenario's costs. Starting with total costs, total CAPEX and total OPEX, the csv file provides further details on the constituents of CAPEX and OPEX and the parameters underlying CAPEX calculations, such as the technical lifetime. In all, the costs export functionality now more truthfully mirrors the ETM's costs calculating capabilities; see the image below.

Solar PV households and buildings capacity sliders moved to Supply

The sliders for solar PV capacities on rooftops of households and buildings now allow users to directly indicate installed capacities for these technologies (in MW). The sliders have been moved to the Renewable electricity section.

Land use of solar and wind visualization available

The ETM now contains a chart displaying the land use of solar panels and wind turbines on land. The chart also allows the user to virtually distinguish large scale and small scale wind turbines without affecting the actual scenario. The accompanying table provides more detailed information on e.g. capacities and electricity production of all included technologies.

Propane added as constituent of network gas

Users of the ETM can now add propane as a constituent carrier in network gas. Addition of propane can be required to increase the energy content of network gas when mixing in other gases with a lower calorific value, such as biogas.

2024.01

Local forecasting for household batteries

You can now choose two types of forecasting for household batteries. The first is the existing system forecasting algorithm, which is available for all electricity storage technologies. The second is a new local forecasting algorithm. Instead of all the electricity demand and supply in a region, it only tries to match household electricity demand and supply. Both types of forecasting have a different impact on the electricity grid. Try it for yourself in the Flexibility section.

Input capacity for load shifting

Demand-side response in the industry has been updated. When applying load shifting in an industry sector, it is now possible to set the available capacity to increase the load seperately from the capacity to decrease the load. This makes it possible to reduce the impact of the increased load on the electricity grid. It can be found in the Flexibility section.

Transit flows

Many regions deal with energy flows that merely pass through the region and are not consumed or produced by parts of the local energy system. Users can now gain more insight in these transit flows of energy carriers within their system. In order to model transit flows in your scenario, you can set the inflexible export volumes of several energy carriers. Setting an export flow also enforces an import flow for the system to be balanced.

New charts have been added which give an overview of the transit flows in the energy system. The new features can be found in the Demand section.

It is also possible to model a transit flow for CO₂ by setting an import flow in Mton. See the Emissions section.

New hydrogen carriers

In addition 2 new hydrogen carriers have been added to the ETM:

• Liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) — LOHCs are substances that can store and transport hydrogen in a liquid form.
  This form provides a higher energy density compared to gaseous hydrogen.

• Liquid hydrogen (LH2) — At extremely low temperatures, hydrogen transitions from gaseous into liquid form. In liquid form it has a much higher volumetric energy density, leading to an advantage in transporting the hydrogen.

This allows for instance to import liquid hydrogen, reform it to produce gaseous hydrogen and export the latter. See the new hydrogen production technologies in the Supply section.

Heat

There are a number of significant changes for the modelling of heat in the ETM. The following three main changes have been made.

Temperature levels of district heating

District heating networks on different temperature levels can be specified: high temperature (HT), medium temperature (MT) and low temperature (LT). Each temperature level has distinct heat sources. You can set the demand, supply, storage and transport and losses for each temperature level. The costs of district heating infrastructure have been updated, using values specific for each temperature level. Finally, a number of charts have been added to help you set demand and supply. Explore the new District heating section to find out more.

Aquathermal

Now, extra aquathermal technologies have been added to the ETM. Aquathermal refers to using water for heating and cooling. Three types of water reservoirs are taken into account: drink water, surface water and waste water.

Aquathermal technologies can be selected for invidiual residences, both for Space heating & hot water and for Cooling. This also applies to Space heating and Cooling in buildings. Additionally, aquathermal heat can be used in MT and LT district heating. A chart has been added that allows you to see the demand for aquathermal heat and compare it to the potential.

Residual heat

It is now possible to specify exactly the amount of residual heat you want to use in your scenario. You can then compare the demand for residual heat with an estimate of the potential in a new chart. The estimate of the potential depends on the respective size of the industry sectors.

2023.06

Adjustable specifications of electricity storage technologies

Two specifications of electricity storage technologies can now be customized in the model. The first is the roundtrip efficiency. You can adjust this in Costs & efficiencies → Flexibility → Electricity storage.

You can also change the relative storage volume of each technology in Flexibility → Electricity storage. The relative storage volume specifies how many hours a technology needs to charge at full capacity to go from 0% to 100% charged. Effectively it allows you to change the total installed storage volume for a given installed capacity.

In the table "Electricity storage technologies specifications" you can quickly compare the specifications across technologies

2023.03

Local vs. Global tool is discontinued

The Local vs. Global tool is discontinued indefinitely. The tool allowed you to select multiple scenarios and see their combined results on a number of indicators. Though the functionality the tool offered is valuable, the limited scope of its implementation made it no longer worth the effort required to maintain it.

Our ambition is to further build on the Transition Paths tool instead. This tool has recently seen much development and offers a lot of flexibility for users who want to visualise and change multiple scenarios within a single interface. The functionality that the Local vs. Global tool offered may be incorporated in the Transition Paths tool in the future.

If you have any questions about the Local vs. Global tool, or would like to discuss suggestions for the improvement of the Transition Paths tool, please contact Quintel.

2023.02

New feature for electricity storage technologies

In the Flexibility → Electricity storage section, you can decide for each storage technology whether you want to enable a forecasting algorithm to determine its behaviour.

The technologies for which this forecasting algorithm algorithm is enabled, will consecutively try to flatten the electricity residual load curve. You can now set the order in which these technologies are applied yourself. Go to the Flexibility → Electricity storage → Merit order section to see how.

For more information, go to our documentation.

2023.01.1

CHPs for local agriculture heat demand

It is now possible to install combined heat and power (CHP) units, that supply heat to meet local demand from agriculture. You can set the share of heat demand that is supplied by these local CHPs in the Demand → Agriculture → Heat section. The capacities of different types of CHPs can then be set in the Demand → Agriculture → Heat from local CHPs section.

Two charts have been added, one that shows you the total local heat supply and demand per year. The other chart (see below) also shows you the electricity flows that are produced by the CHPs.

Electricity storage in electric buses, vans and trucks

As the number of electric vehicles increases, it is becoming increasingly interesting to utilize the batteries that are present in those vehicles during hours when they are not used for transportation. It was already possible to use batteries in electric cars to provide storage services to the electricity grid, and now this is also possible for electric buses, vans and trucks.

Go to the Flexibility → Electricity storage → Batteries in electric vehicles section, to see how you can put these batteries to use. The total available battery storage volume does depend on the number of electric vehicles in your scenario, which you can determine in the Demand → Transport section.

Chart sets

In the 'See more charts' pop-up, you can now choose to load multiple charts at once. With a single click on "System overview" you will open a predetermined selection of charts and tables that provide you with a full overview of your energy system.

If you would like to add another set of charts, please contact Quintel.