TIMES_PT: Integrated Energy System Modeling

The complexity of energy systems operation and the necessity to design secure and reliable systems, compatible with greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation goals, have justified the development of energy models. They are capable of representing detailed energy systems (technical and economic characteristics) and the interconnections between supply and consumer sectors, assessing energy consumption and production pathways. Energy modeling tools have been widely used to help energy planners to assess energy systems; from different approaches as the impacts of alternative energy and environmental policies, or the competitiveness of different energy technologies. This paper provides an overview of the energy-environmental-economic modeling tool TIMES_PT, the last generation of the IEA/ETSAP integrated technological energy models, with a focus on its structure, functioning, and calibration for the case of the Portuguese energy system. Applications cases of TIMES_PT, namely for the design of low carbon scenarios for the long-term, are presented. Innovative developments on linking TIMES_PT with a macro-economic model (GEM-E3_PT) and the assessment of non-technological variables are also described.