Our Areas of Expertise
We combine scientific excellence and state-of-the-art modelling tools with extensive knowledge on the energy, economy, environment and transport domains. We provide consulting services based on the design and quantification of scenarios covering these sectors. We are involved in:
- Supporting policy analysis and development of strategies and outlooks: E3-Modelling provides model-based assessment of the energy, macroeconomic and climate implications of energy, climate and sustainable development policies. We support policy analysis by employing detailed large-scale applied mathematical models. Such models are used to make projections and analyse complex issues requiring system wide considerations while providing support for energy and climate policy analysis.
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Development and maintenance of large-scale energy, economy and transport models: The company develops applied models that can be sectoral- and region-specific. The models represent in great detail the operation of electricity markets, power supply and demand, transport, biomass production, the generation of GHG sources and sinks. The modelling suites developed and maintained by E3-Modelling include global and EU-specific multi-sectoral macroeconomic models, detailed partial equilibrium models for the energy and transport sectors, as well as sector specific models on buildings, industry and bioenergy.
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Market analysis, system simulation, policy and investment assessment for the electricity and gas sectors: By taking advantage of the vast experience of our experts in market design and regulation and power-gas economics, based on our dedicated power and gas markets economic and technical models we provide consulting services to power and gas companies, relevant associations, potential investors and regulators. Our tools allow us to analyse the implications of policy interventions, the introduction of new market players, development of new transmission infrastructure and interconnectors on the operations of these markets and assess the economic performance of potential investments in generation and supply under a very wide range choice of assumptions via the elaboration of complex scenarios with short, medium- or long-term prospects. We cover all European countries, the EU internal market, the South-East European area, Turkey, North Africa and countries in the Caspian area.
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Maintenance of large-scale energy and economic databases: E3-Modelling maintains a large set of macroeconomic and energy data including social accounting matrices, fiscal data, energy balances, bilateral trade matrices, engineering data on technology costs, two-factor learning curves and sector-specific marginal abatement cost curves.
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Development of new modelling tools, delivery to clients and capacity building: E3-Modelling staff assists institutions in developing their own models, or develops new models and delivers them to governments, associations and private companies. The newly developed models are tailored to the requirements of each client and highly customisable; we also provide capacity building to clients so as to familiarise their staff not only in the operation, and use of energy and economy system models, but also to broaden their knowledge of the energy economics, macroeconomics, transport and emission abatement domains.
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Research and management of research projects: E3-Modelling participates and manages research projects in the fields of macro-economics and energy modelling capacity.
Energy & Transport
The energy system is changing and facing new challenges due to the perspective of strong emission reduction requirements and higher uncertainty. E3-Modelling provides analyses which assist decision-making in these challenging times through informed, transparent and robust tools.
We develop energy models which aim at representing accurately and in detail the multitude of competing energy technologies, physical and engineering constraints, development of infrastructure, changing of consumption patterns, macroeconomic developments and business cycles and technology dynamics that characterize the current transitional energy system.
We develop and maintain the renowned PRIMES modelling suite including detailed representation of the full energy system comprising stationary and mobile energy demand and supply of energy commodities.
PRIMES offers a detailed and sophisticated view of the operations of the European energy system through its detailed sector-specific modules which can be used as stand-alone models as well as interlinked to provide a full energy system overview and analysis. Currently the PRIMES model is developed for 38 European countries (all 28 EU Member States individually plus 10 non-EU European countries) and can provide projections up to 2050 or 2070.
Further at E3-Modelling we develop and operate the following energy system modelling tools:
- PROMETHEUS world energy system model: accounts for the stochasticity of the world energy system and performs projections for the global energy supply and demand trends as well as oil and regional gas prices
- CompactPRIMES: A compact, one-shot, country specific version of the more complex and detailed PRIMES model. The model is regularly used as a basis to develop tailor-made client specific models that are delivered and operated by governmental bodies, regulators or private institutions. E3-Modelling is providing sophisticated capacity building workshops on the operation of models based on the CompactPRIMES model principles.
As a Europe-based company our focus is currently on Europe, however the modelling methodologies can be applied world-wide, as demonstrated by the use of the CompactPRIMES model which could be easily adapted to any country.
Economy
Economic considerations are the main drivers for a large part of strategy and policy decisions. At E3-Modelling we support strategic decisions for different actors and policy makers through informed, transparent and robust analysis based on tools that are continuously improved to capture the latest trends and research developments.
Modelling the economic system and its drivers of growth is a continuously growing research area. E3-Modelling maintains and develops advanced macroeconomic models that capture the inter-dependencies of all economic agents at a global scale. The workhorse of economic models is the large scale applied CGE model GEM-E3 that covers the whole world and all EU member states at a high sectoral resolution. The GEM-E3 model features:
- endogenous growth mechanisms linked to R&D expenditures and human capital upgrade,
- knowledge spill-overs,
- labour market imperfections for five labour skills,
- bottom-up representation of the energy system,
- full accounting of all GHG emissions and
- explicit representation of the financial sector.
E3-Modelling using its suite of macroeconomic models is able to provide consistent long term macroeconomic outlooks with a detailed view on GDP and sectoral composition and offers economic analysis based on the quantification of alternative policy scenarios including scenarios requiring large structural changes such as the decarbonisation scenarios.
Environment and climate
Sustainable development requires the decoupling of economic growth from resource use and hazardous environmental impacts. At E3-Modelling we quantify in detail the impact of economic development and climate and energy policies on greenhouse gas emissions, pollutant emissions and resources. Our modelling suite allows to analyse the health, climate and economic impacts from alternative growth paths. The rich technological detail of the models in representing end-of-pipe abatement technologies and the damage functions that relate pollutant concentrations with economic variables enables a consistent evaluation of the impact that alternative energy and economic system projections have on the environment.
Where our work is used
Our models are part of the set of modelling tools that the European Commission is regularly using in preparation of its impact assessment works: View Online
The latest baseline prepared for the European Commission is the EU Reference Scenario 2016: View Online
The recent “Clean Planet for All” communication of the European Commission on the EU Long Term Strategy: View Online
E3-Modelling has informed the policy dialogue for the climate and energy targets in 2030 via the quantification of the “EUCO” family of scenarios in 2016:
Analysis on the importance of French nuclear power for the decarbonisation of the EU energy system: View Online
E3-Modelling has conducted the quantitative analysis for a study for DG Energy on the role of electricity and hydrogen in enhancing sectoral integration in view of the decarbonisation of the EU energy system. View Online
An important study conducted by E3-Modelling (requested by DG Energy), contributing to the Impact Assessment of the European Commission of the Electricity Market Design Initiative. It consists of two parts: the first part focuses on electricity market operation and evaluates a number of policy options. The second part examines the behavior of investors and assesses the ability of markets to sustain adequate levels of investments in future years: View Online
A study conducted for DG Energy that describes and assesses different options for cross-border participation in capacity mechanisms, in particular with regards to the quantification of costs and benefits of each of the options. This study provided input to the Impact Assessment supporting the legislative proposal for a new market design which is part of the Commission’s “Clean Energy for All Europeans” package. View Online
A study conducted for DG Research and Innovation on the role of Research and Innovation in enhancing biomass availability for the production of advanced biofuels for the EU energy system: View Online
A study requested by DG Research and Innovation where E3Modellign have participated via the elaboration of scenarios exhibiting the potential of technologies based on artificial photosynthesis, in aiding the effort to meet the long-term EU energy and climate goals, under different assumptions regarding their learning potential. View Online