Installation

A GAMS installation and license is required to run Balmorel. We also recommend installing git to do version control on your Balmorel project.

Downloading Balmorel Framework and Data

The Balmorel framework can be downloaded from GitHub as a .zip file by pressing Code -> Download ZIP. The corresponding data is in another GitHub repository, and can also be downloaded as a .zip. Place the Balmorel_data folder in Balmorel/base and rename it to “data”.

This installation can also be done using git commands in a command line interface:

git clone https://github.com/balmorelcommunity/Balmorel.git
cd Balmorel/base
git clone https://github.com/balmorelcommunity/Balmorel_data.git

Remember to rename Balmorel_data to data inside Balmorel/base. For further instructions on how to install Balmorel using git and how to contribute to the project, we made this GitHub tutorial.

Tip

If you use VS Code with git, this specific placing of the data repository Balmorel_data inside the framework repository Balmorel/base folder will enable you to simultaneously keep track of changes to both the Balmorel framework and data in your workspace.

Choosing a solver and license

By default Balmorel uses the open-source solver HiGHS, which is included in the Free Personal GAMS License. However, when trying to solve larger models, users may need a commercial solver, available through the free academic or commercial license.

Tip

The solver can be chosen in the base/model/balgams.opt file.