PowNet is a least-cost optimization model for simulating the Unit Commitment and Economic Dispatch (UC/ED) of large-scale (regional to country) power systems. In PowNet, a power system is represented by a set of nodes that include power plants, high-voltage substations, and import/export stations (for cross-border systems). The model schedules and dispatches the electricity supply from power plant units to meet hourly electricity demand in substations at a minimum cost. It considers the techno-economic constraints of both generating units and high-voltage transmission network. The power flow calculation is based on a Direct Current (DC) network (with N-1 criterion), which provides a reasonable balance between modelling accuracy and data and computational requirements. PowNet can easily integrate information about variable renewable resources (e.g., hydro, wind, solar) into the UC/ED process. For example, it can be linked with models that estimate the electricity supply available from renewable resources as a function of the climatic conditions. In addition, PowNet has provision to account for the effect of droughts on the generation of dispatchable thermal units (e.g., coal, oil, gas-fired units) that depend on freshwater availability. These features facilitate the application of PowNet to problems in the water-energy nexus domain that investigate the impact of water availability on electricity supply and demand.
The latest and previous versions of PowNet are listed below. Please, check the release notes for a list of modifications made in each version. Also, please note that the latest version (v2.0) features substantial changes w.r.t. to the v1.x versions, whose development is no longer supported.
PowNet v2.0
Instructions on how to run and customize the model are presented below.
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For questions and feedback related to PowNet, please contact Phumthep Bunnak (pb585@cornell.edu) or Stefano Galelli (galelli@cornell.edu).
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Input data are available for the following power fleets:
- Cambodia (2016)
- Laos (2016)
- Thailand (2016)
PowNet is released under the MIT license.
If you use PowNet for your research, please cite the following paper:
Chowdhury, A.F.M.K., Kern, J., Dang, T.D. and Galelli, S., 2020. PowNet: A Network-Constrained Unit Commitment/Economic Dispatch Model for Large-Scale Power Systems Analysis. Journal of Open Research Software, 8(1), p.5.
Recent papers that used PowNet:
- Koh, R., Galelli, S. (2024) Evaluating Streamflow Forecasts in Hydro-Dominated Power Systems--When and Why They Matter. Water Resources Research, 60, e2023WR035825.
- Galelli, S., Dang, T.D., Ng, J.Y., Chowdhury, A.F.M.K., Arias, M.E. (2022) Curbing hydrological alterations in the Mekong–limits and opportunities of dam re-operation. Nature Sustainability, 5, 1058–1069.
- Koh, R., Kern, J., Galelli, S. (2022) Hard-coupling water and power system models increases the complementarity of renewable energy sources. Applied Energy, 321, 119386.
- Chowdhury, A.K., Dang, T.D., Nguyen, H.T., Koh, R., and Galelli, S., (2021). The Greater Mekong's climate-water-energy nexus: how ENSO-triggered regional droughts affect power supply and CO2 emissions. Earth’s Future, 9, e2020EF001814.
- Chowdhury, A.K., Dang, T.D., Bagchi, A., and Galelli, S., (2020). Expected benefits of Laos' hydropower development curbed by hydro-climatic variability and limited transmission capacity—opportunities to reform. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 146(10), 05020019.