EnergyScope Multi-Cell : a novel open-source model for multi-regional energy systems and application to a 3-cell, low-carbon energy system

To fight global warming, the European Union has the ambition to tend towards zero carbon emission by 2050. The energy transition is essential to reach these objectives. For long-term planning, energy system models are necessary. This master’s thesis develops a multi-regional energy model with a special focus on sector coupling, EnergyScope MC. It studies several types of energy demands - electricity, heat and mobility - and allows exchanges of different energy carriers - electricity, natural gas (NG), synthetic liquid fuel (SLF) and wood. Thanks to simple scenarios on three interconnected countries - France, Belgium and Switzerland- the consistency and reliability of the model are verified. Some general trends stand out from these analysis. The results demonstrate that inter-regional energy exchange will play a crucial role in the energy transition: exchanging several energy carriers reduces the cost of low-carbon energy systems by 21% compared to the scenario without exchanges. The main means of exchanges between countries are NG, SLF and electricity. The developed tool gives consistent results and this work is a first step for future projects. Eventually, EnergyScope MC could be used to model the European energy system.