[NEMO-devel] new demand model in NEMO

[Ben Elliston]

Hi all

NEMO currently has a very simple minded model of electricity demand:
it reads a single CSV file of demand traces (one column per
region). There are then options available to modify this demand (for
example, by scaling it) before the simulations run.

Step one of my grand plan is to generalise this so that other kinds of
demand can be implemented. Other sources of demand can be more than
just static traces -- they can be implemented in Python instead (eg,
EV charging).

Generation and demand are conceptually separated in NEMO at
present. I'm interested in input from others about what could be done
to make the model more sophisticated by allowing the demand models to
query the generator models and vice-versa. For example, an EV charging
demand model might be able to query VRE generators for a forecast over
the next few hours (perfect forecasting). Similarly, generators could
query the demand model(s) for demand forecasts over the next few hours
to do things like dispatching limited hydro resources in a more
strategic way. I would not want to introduce anything
non-deterministic about the forecasts, of course, as that will make
optimisation hellish.

I would be grateful for thoughts on this.

Cheers,
Ben