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Results

FlexTool outputs results typical to a planning model or a scheduling model, but it also tries to highlight potential flexibility issues in the system. The outputs from the latest run are initially CSV files and can befound in the folder 'output'. File 'summary_solve.csv' can give a quick overview of potential issues in the solve - it is a diagnostic file. The other files are all numerical results and will be imported to a Spine database by the FlexTool workflow.

Costs

  • model entity cost_annualized parameter - M[CUR] (millions of user chosen currency) includes annualized total cost as well as annualized costs divided into
  • unit investment/retirement - M[CUR] cost of investing in unit capacity or benefits from salvaging unit capacity
  • connection investment/retirement - M[CUR] cost of investing in connection capacity or benefits from salvaging connection capacity
  • storage investment/retirement - M[CUR] cost of investing in storage capacity or benefits from salvaging storage capacity
  • commodity - M[CUR] cost of unit using commodity inputs or benefit of selling commodities (negative value)
  • CO2 - M[CUR] cost of CO2 emissions caused by unit using commodities with CO2 content
  • variable cost - M[CUR] other variable operation and maintenance costs
  • starts - M[CUR] start up costs
  • upward penalty - M[CUR] cost of involuntary demand reduction
  • downward penalty - M[CUR] cost of involuntary demand increase
  • inertia penalty - M[CUR] cost of not meeting the inertia constraint
  • non-synchronous penalty - M[CUR] cost of not meeting the non-synchronous constraint
  • capacity margin penalty - M[CUR] cost of not meeting the capacity margin constraint
  • upward reserve penalty - M[CUR] cost of not meeting the upward reserve constraint
  • downward reserve penalty - M[CUR] cost of not meeting the downward reserve constraint
  • model entity cost_t parameter - M[CUR] similar as above but costs given for each timestep (no investment/retirement costs)
  • model entity cost_discounted_solve paramater - M[CUR] Costs for the solve considering discounting and years presented (scaled to all years presented). Divided like in cost_annualized
  • model entity cost_discounted_total parameter - M[CUR] Total costs for all the solves considering discounting and years presented (scaled to all years presented). Divided like in cost_annualized

Prices

  • node entity price_t parameter - [CUR/MWh] each node that maintains an energy balance provides a price time series based on the marginal value of the balance constraint

Energy flows

  • unit__node entity flow_annualized parameter - [MWh] cumulative flow from the node (if node is input) or to the node (if node is output) annualized. Annualization scales the sum to correspond with full year time series.
  • unit__node entity flow_t parameter - [MW] flow from the node (if node is input) or to the node (if node is output)
  • connection__node__node entity flow_annualized parameter - [MWh] cumulative flow through the connection (left to right is positive) annualized
  • connection__node__node entity flow_t parameter - [MW] flow through the connection (left to right is positive)

Optional output: output_connetion_flows_separate

  • connection__node__node entity flow_to_first_node_annualized parameter - [MWh] annualized cumulative flow through the connection only to the left (first) node.
  • connection__node__node entity flow_to_second_node_annualized parameter - [MWh] annualized cumulative flow through the connection only to the right (second) node.
  • connection__node__node entity flow_to_first_node_t parameter - [MW] flow through the connection to the left (first) node.
  • connection__node__node entity flow_to_second_node_t parameter - [MW] flow through the connection to the right (second) node.

Capacity factors

  • unit__node entity cf parameter - [per unit] average capacity factor of the flow, i.e. the utilization rate of the flow from/to the unit. Average of flow [MWh/h] divided by capacity [MW] of the input or output to the unit.
  • connection entity cf parameter - [per unit] average capacity factor of the flow, i.e. the utilization rate of the connection where flows in both directions are considered as utilization. Average of the absolute flow [MWh/h] divided by the capacity of the connection.

Energy balance in nodes

  • node entity balance parameter - [MWh] cumulative inputs (positive) and outputs (negative) to the node from all the possible sources (from_units, from_connection, to_units, to_connections, state change over the period, self discharge during the period, upward slack for involuntary demand reduction and downward slack for involuntary demand increase)
  • node entity balance_t parameter - [MW] same as above, but for each timestep
  • node entity state_t parameter - [MWh] storage state of the node in each timestep

Unit online and startup

  • unit entity online_average parameter - [count] average online status of the unit (average number of units online during the period)
  • unit entity online_t parameter - [count] online status of the unit (number of units online in each timestep)
  • unit entity startup_cumulative parameter - [count] cumulative number of unit startups during the period

Unit curtailment

  • unit entity curtailment_share parameter - [0-1] Share of curtailed production from potential production for periods
  • unit entity curtailment_t parameter - [MW] curtailed flow to the node

Group results

  • group entity indicator parameter - gives a set of results for all node members of the group
  • sum of annualized inflows - [MWh] sum of inflow to the node which has been annualized (scaled to correspond to a year of timesteps)
  • VRE share - [0-1] how much the flows from VRE sources (inputs using 'upper limit' profile) are of the inflow
  • curtailed VRE share - [0-1] how much the unused flows from VRE sources would have been of the inflow
  • upward slack share - [0-1] upward slack in relation to the inflow
  • downward slack share - [0-1] downward slack in relation to the inflow
  • group entity flow_annualized parameter - [MWh] produces grouped and annualized flow results of the node members of the group
  • group entity flow_t parameter - [MW] produces grouped flow results to the node members of the group
  • group entity sum_flow_annualized parameter [MWh] Annualized sum of flows in the group (members from group__connection__node and group__unit__node). Annualization scales the sum to correspond with full year time series.
  • group entity sum_flow_t parameter [MW] Sum of flows in the group (members from group__connection__node and group__unit__node).
  • group entity VRE_share_t parameter - [0-1] how much the flows from VRE sources (inputs using 'upper limit' profile) are of the inflow for each timestep

Capacity and investment results

  • unit, connection and node entities capacity parameter - [MW or MWh] include the following parameters
  • existing - [MW or MWh] capacity that was assumed to exist in the beginning of the solve
  • invested - [MW or MWh] capacity the model decided to invest for the given period
  • retired - [MW or MWh] capacity the model decided to retire in the beginning of the given period
  • total - [MW or MWh] sum of existing, invested and retired capacities
  • unit, connection and node entities invest_marginal parameter - [CUR/MW or MWh] marginal cost to invest in one more MW or MWh of capacity (zero value means that the model has invested in optimal amount; negative value means that if the model would be able to invest more, it could reduce total cost by the stated amount per MW or MWh; positive value means the cost is higher than the benefit by the stated amount per MW or MWh)
  • group parameter slack_capacity_margin - [MW or MWh] use of slack variable and the associated penalty cost to meet the capacity margin requirement in the period
  • group parameter slack_capacity_margin - use of slack variable and the associated penalty cost to meet the capacity margin requirement in the period

CO2 emissions

  • group entity CO2_annualized parameter - [Mt] how many million tons of CO2 annualized the units and connections in this group have generated (by using commodity with CO2 content) or removed.
  • unit entity CO2_annualized parameter - [Mt] how many million tons of CO2 annualized the unit has generated (by using commodity with CO2 content) or removed

Reserves

  • unit__reserve__upDown__node entity reservation_t parameter - [MW] how much upward or downward reserve particular unit was providing to a particular node in given timestep
  • unit__reserve__upDown__node entity reservation_average parameter - [MW] how much upward or downward reserve particular unit was providing to a particular node in average during the period
  • group__reserve__upDown entity slack_reserve_t parameter - [MW] use of slack variable and the associated penalty cost to fulfill the upward or downward reserve requirement in each timestep
  • group__reserve__upDown entity slack_reserve parameter - [MW] cumulative use of slack variable and the associated penalty cost to fulfill the upward or downward reserve requirement during the period

Inertia and non-synchronous generation

  • group entity inertia_t parameter - [MWs] the amount of inertia (MWs) in the group of nodes in each timestep
  • group entity inertia_largest_flow_t parameter - [MW] The largest individual flow coming into the group of nodes that has_inertia
  • group entity inertia_unit_node_t parameter - [MW] the amount of inertia between units and the nodes of the group
  • group entity slack_inertia_t parameter - [MWs] use of slack variable and the associated penalty cost to fulfill the inertia requirement in each timestep
  • group entity slack_nonsync_t parameter - [MWh] use of slack variable and the associated penalty cost to fulfill the non-synchronous share maximum share constraint in each timestep

Ramps

  • node entity ramp_t parameter - includes seven parameters that form the ramp room envelope (how much there is additional room to ramp in a give node)
  • ramp - [MW] the actual ramp in the node from previous timestep to this timestep
  • units_up - [MW] additional room for upward ramps from non-VRE units connected to the node
  • VRE_up - [MW] adds upward ramp room from VRE units on top of the ramp room from non-VRE units
  • connections_up - [MW] adds upward ramp room from connections on top of the previous ramp rooms (does not consider whether the connected node has ramp room, but is simply the available capacity in the connection)
  • units_down - [MW] additional room for downward ramps from non-VRE units connected to the node
  • VRE_down - [MW] adds downward ramp room from VRE units on top of the ramp room from non-VRE units
  • connections_down - [MW] adds downward ramp room from connections on top of the previous ramp rooms (does not consider whether the connected node has ramp room, but is simply the available capacity in the connection)
  • unit__node entity ramp_t parameter - [MW] shows ramping of particular input or output flow between a unit and a node for each time step

Slack and penalty values

Slack and penalty values are listed in various places above (costs, energy balance, reserves, inertia and non-sychronous generation).