Opening the black box of energy modelling: Strategies and lessons learned

TL;DR

This paper offers practical guidance on how to enhance transparency and openness in energy modelling by sharing code and data, emphasizing community efforts and institutional support for better energy research practices.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive, experience-based guide for opening energy models and data, including legal, technical, and community-building considerations.

Findings

Community-driven approaches improve model transparency.

Institutional changes are essential for sustained openness.

Sharing practices lead to more reliable energy research.

Abstract

The global energy system is undergoing a major transition, and in energy planning and decision-making across governments, industry and academia, models play a crucial role. Because of their policy relevance and contested nature, the transparency and open availability of energy models and data are of particular importance. Here we provide a practical how-to guide based on the collective experience of members of the Open Energy Modelling Initiative (Openmod). We discuss key steps to consider when opening code and data, including determining intellectual property ownership, choosing a licence and appropriate modelling languages, distributing code and data, and providing support and building communities. After illustrating these decisions with examples and lessons learned from the community, we conclude that even though individual researchers' choices are important, institutional changes are still also necessary for more openness and transparency in energy research.