HolisticElectricityModel.jl

The Holistic Electricity Model (HEM) is a computational framework for analyzing electricity systems in their entirety, from the points of view of all key stakeholders.

Start-Up Instructions

• Clone this repository
• Prepare the model input data by cloning the HolisticElectricityModelData.jl repository and following the instructions. (Users can also generate their own input data as long as it is in a compatible format.)

Installation

NREL HPC Instructions

(* Skip this step if Julia is already installed in the HPC *)

• Go to https://julialang.org/downloads and copy the link to the latest supported Julia Linux image (currently Julia 1.10.0).

• ssh to NREL HPC (currently Kestrel) and download the image.

  $ ssh kestrel.hpc.nrel.gov
  $ wget https://julialang-s3.julialang.org/bin/linux/x64/1.8/julia-1.10.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
  $ tar -xzf julia-1.10.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

• Add lines analogous to these to your ~/.bashrc file on the HPC:

  # User specific aliases and functions
  alias julia="/home/<user_name>/julia-1.10.0/bin/julia"
  

• Reload the file so that you can run julia.

  $ source ~/.bashrc

• Once on a login node, make it so the required packages will load. Also, load the latest suported Gurobi solver (currently 11.0.0):

  > module load gurobi/11.0.0
  > julia --project=runner/Gurobi

  julia> ]
  pkg> dev .
  pkg> instantiate
  pkg> build Gurobi

NREL Laptop Instructions

• Go to https://julialang.org/downloads/ and install Julia based on the OS.

• Install the Xpress solver

• Update the .bashrc file similar to the HPC (depending on the OS).

• Load julia and set up the packages.

  > julia --project=runner/Xpress

  julia> ]
  pkg> dev .
  pkg> instantiate
  pkg> build Xpress

Performing a Model Run

Running HEM requires access to LP and MIP solvers. Because different choices can be made in this regard, we recommend setting up your computational environment based on one of the environments under runner. Currently, it is recommended to use Gurobi for HPC and Xpress for local runs.

Running on NREL HPC

• Set up the model configurations using the hem_config.yaml file in HolisticElectricityModel.jl/script/configs/. Make sure that the solver is 'Gurobi'.

• Load the Gurobi module

  module load gurobi/11.0.0
  

  and then use the hem.jl script for your model runs.

  For example, to run in interactive mode on a debug node:

  > salloc -N 1 -t 60 --account=hem --partition=debug
  # ... Wait for a compute node
  > cd HolisticElectricityModel.jl
  > module load gurobi/11.0.0
  > julia --project=runner/Gurobi script/hem.jl

Running on NREL Laptop

• Ensure that Xpress is installed and activated.

• Set up the model configurations using the hem_config.yaml file in HolisticElectricityModel.jl/script/configs/. Make sure that the solver is 'Xpress'.

• Activate the runner/Xpress environment and run the hem.jl script.

  > cd HolisticElectricityModel.jl
  > julia --project=runner/Xpress script/hem.jl

Other Environments

The key consideration for running in non-NREL computational environments is which solver will be used for linear programs (LPs) and mixed integer programs (MIPs). The HEM team recommends using a commercial solver; for example, we use either Xpress or Gurobi. If you would prefer to use a different solver, please let us know and/or try implementing on your own. The key steps to supporting another solver are:

• Add a new environment specification under runner following the Gurobi and Xpress examples.
• Create a new HEMSolver in src/solvers.jl
• Add entries for import_solver_package, get_optimizer_for_solver, and addsolvers_ipp! in src/solvers.jl
• Edit script/config_data.jl (and script/hem.jl) as needed

A nonlinear programming solver is also required, but we've generally found the open source solver Ipopt to be sufficient for our purposes. Thus, Ipopt is installed by default in our runner projects. That said, if you'd like to try other options, feel free to explore and please do reach out if you learn anything interesting or would like to make a contribution.

Running Tests

Specify a scenario you want to test by modifying hem_config.yaml file accordingly. Currently the model outputs available to test against need to be generated in the test/driver_outputs/ba_1_base_2018_future_2_ipps_1 directory by running the create_run_inputs.jl script in HolisticElectricityModelData.jl. The output_path would need to be uppdated to the appropriate location along with input parameters:

ba = ["p13"]
ba_len = length(ba)
base_year = 2018
future_years = [2019, 2020]
future_years_len = length(future_years)
ipp_number = 1

The option names printed in the test/driver_outputs/ba_1_base_2018_future_2_ipps_1/Results_... directory names indicate what sets of HEMOptions and RegulatoryOptions can be tested against.

Then, to run all tests:

> julia --project=test
julia> include("test/test_hem.jl")

NREL Software Record SWR-21-62 "HEM (HolisticElectricityModel.jl)"