Scenario Setup

Lets start by learning how to execute Balmorel using a small test scenario. Create a new folder in the level of the base folder, a new data and model folder inside of this and copy and paste the Balmorel.gms and cplex.op4 folder from base/model. If you want to call this scenario “test_run” the folder structure should now look like the following:

Balmorel
├── base
├── test_run
│   ├── data 
│   └── model
│       ├── cplex.op4
│       └── Balmorel.gms
└── simex

This is how to setup different scenarios in Balmorel. The framework will first attempt to look for files in the test_run, and then in the base folder if the required file did not exist. This means you do not have to copy paste all of the data in base/data everytime you make a new scenario, but can simply add the changed data. We will do this below.

Prepare Scenario Data

Lets decrease the temporal and spatial resolution significantly, so Balmorel will solve within one or two minutes and we can verify our setup. We can do this by creating new Y.inc, S.inc, T.inc and C.inc files in test_run/data. In GAMS Studio, press File/New…, find the test_run/data folder and save as type “GAMS Include files (*.inc)”. Copy and paste the contents from each of the snippets below:

Y.inc

SET  Y(YYY) "Years in the simulation"
/
2030, 2040, 2050
/;

This will select model years 2030, 2040 and 2050.

S.inc

SET S(SSS)  'Seasons in the simulation'
/  
S14
/; 

This corresponds to selecting week 14 in a year.

T.inc

SET T(TTT)  'Time periods within a season in the simulation'
/
T001, T005, T009, T013, T017, T021
/;

This corresponds to selecting hours 00:00, 04:00, 08:00, 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00 on a monday.

C.inc

SET C(CCC)  'Countries in the simulation'
/
NORWAY
DENMARK
/;

This selects countries Norway and Denmark (which consist of respectively 5 and 2 electricity and hydrogen nodes, corresponding to the bidding zones of Norway and Denmark).

We are now ready to run Balmorel, see the next page.