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Energy component

The OSeMOSYS reference-energy-system core — electricity, fuels and hydrogen pathways to decarbonize British Columbia.

CLEWs · Energy

🌡️ Climate 🌾 Land / Food ⚡ Energy 💧 Water

The 'E' — the modelling backbone

Energy is the original OSeMOSYS domain and the structural core of BCNexus. It is a bottom-up reference energy system: primary resources are mined or imported, converted by technologies into energy carriers, and delivered to satisfy sectoral demands (industry, residential, commercial, transport, agriculture). The model chooses least-cost capacity and operation across the whole chain.

The whole energy subsystem runs on three primitives: InputActivityRatio / OutputActivityRatio wire fuels through technologies, RateOfActivity is how hard each technology runs, and the energy-balance constraints force supply ≥ demand + use + trade in every timeslice.

Carriers & resources (base model)

ELC ElectricityHYD HydropowerWND Wind SOL SolarGEO GeothermalNGS Natural gas DSL DieselGSL GasolineBIO Biomass COA CoalURN UraniumRPP Refined petroleum

Technology classes: PWR Power plantMIN non-renewable miningRNW renewable resourceIMP/EXP trade

What the model is trying to find

The core policy question: which technological pathways — heavy electrification plus alternative carriers such as hydrogen — meet BC's decarbonization targets at least cost. Variable renewables (solar, wind) make the intra-day timeslice resolution and the storage formulation (see the Niet vs Kotzur variants) especially important.

Base-model specifics (BC)

Horizon 2020–2050, British Columbia as a single region on grid "B". Existing plants enter as residual capacity: ~150 active BC projects aggregated into 12 hydro units plus natural-gas and biomass groups, while wind and solar are represented individually for location sensitivity.

CapacityToActivityUnit = 31.536 (1 GW = 31.536 PJ/yr); OutputActivityRatio = 1 for power techs.
Transmission loss ~10% (modelled as a 1.11 generation multiplier); reserve margin conservative ~13% (≈1.135), met by hydro, gas, bio, geo, nuclear (not VRE).
Efficiencies (InputActivityRatio) from EURELECTRIC (2003): e.g. CCGT up to 58%, hydro up to 95%, wind up to 35%, PV up to 15%.
Operational life: hydro 60 y, nuclear 36 y, wind/solar 25 y, gas 22 y, bio/geo 40 y. Costs are generic EIA-2020 values, held constant across the horizon.

Reference: Arianpoo, Wright & Niet, "Electrification Policy Impacts on Land System in BC, Canada."