• Client:  EC - DG REFORM
  • Implementation period: October, 2020 - June, 2021 (Ongoing)
  • Geographic coverage: Spain

Updating Spain’s modelling capacity to support the energy transition

The study aims to assist the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and other public stakeholders to improve the main modelling tool for the Spanish Climate and Energy Strategies and Plans, TIMES-SINERGIA, as well as to develop a detailed model of the Spanish power system, also to be employed in the development of the Climate and Energy Strategies and Plans. The upgraded TIMES-SINERGIA and the new model of the Spanish power system will support the Spanish energy transition plans, their implementation and their monitoring, in order to achieve a carbon neutral economy at least-cost and in a timely manner, in coordination with the EU and other Member States, within the framework of the Governance of the Energy Union. The project is conducted by Trinomics in collaboration with CIEMAT and IIT. The project will run from October 2020 and will finish by June 2021.

Sankey diagram on energy supply and demand in Spain (2018)

This investigation provided the following preliminary results:

  • Introducing new technologies and processes, and updated parameters for existing ones, such as district heating, energy storage and other forecasted to 2050;
  • Implementing an appropriate time and geographical resolution;
  • Improving the representation of the power sector, including with respect to demand response, self-consumption, and electric interconnections;
  • Improving the representation of the (evolution of) the vehicle fleet and transport modal shifts;
  • Building a model for the Spanish power system, which can be coupled to TIMES-SINERGIA; and
  • Providing recommendations on possible ways to incorporate behavioural changes and circularity.