ALPSS

Accessible, Lightweight Power Sector Simulation Model

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About ALPSS

ALPSS is an open-source simulation model that can help users better understand the current and future U.S. power sector under different policy and economic development scenarios. It can take default or user-defined assumptions about the current and future power sector to solve for the optimal unit dispatch and generation expansion. It has been used to examine potential clean energy investment portfolios, to assess greenhouse gas emissions profiles under various state policies, and to identify communities most vulnerable to increased criteria pollutant emissions from fossil fuel generators as a result of electric vehicle adoption.

Benefits

Its lightweight nature makes it ideal for conducting multiple runs for uncertainty and sensitivity analyses. There are minimal underlying model assumptions that the user cannot define, making the model transparent and easy to understand. ALPSS can help users understand divergent results across other models, through demonstrating how differences in input assumptions (such as technology costs) may lead to changes across outcomes.

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Example projected hourly dispatch profile of generators in North Carolina, produced by ALPSS. The model can run at yearly, monthly, daily, or hourly timescales.
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ALPSS balancing authority modeling resolution. The model can be run at national, regional, and balancing authority geographic scales.

About the Underlying Data

ALPSS relies on the RTI-developed MEEDE dataset. MEEDE leverages publicly available data to provide a detailed representation of power sector generators across the United States. In its default setting, ALPSS relies on MEEDE for projected future cost and technical specifications. However, future assumptions can be changed and specified by the user.