PyPSA-RSA: An open Optimisation Model of the South African Power System

PyPSA-RSA is an open model dataset of the South African power system at three spatial resolutions namely;

• 1-supply: A single node for the entire South Africa.

• 11-supply: 11 nodes based on the Eskom Generation Connection Capacity Assessment of the 2024 Transmission Network (GCCA – 2024) regions.

• 27-supply: 27 nodes based on Eskom 27 supply regions.

PyPSA-RSA is a high temporal resolution multi-horizon expansion planning model for a least cost optimised transition path to a decarbonised power sector over the coming decades for South Africa.

PyPSA-RSA makes use of freely available and open data which encourages the open exchange of model data developments and eases the comparison of model results. It provides a full, automated software pipeline to assemble the load-flow-ready model from the original datasets, which enables easy replacement and improvement of the individual parts.

PyPSA-RSA is designed to be imported into the open toolbox PyPSA for which documentation is available as well.

This project is currently maintained by Meridian Economics. Previous versions were developed within the Energy Centre at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) as part of the CoNDyNet project, which is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research under grant no. 03SF0472C.

The model is currently under development and has been validated for the single node (1-supply), for more information on the capability of the moel please see the Release Notes.

Note

Credits to PyPSA-Eur and PyPSA-Meets-Earth developers for the initial drafting of the documentation here reported and adapted where necessary

Documentation

Getting Started

• Introduction

• Installation

• Workflow

• Tutorial

• Data used by the model

Configuration

• Wildcards

• Configuration

• Cost Assumptions

API

• API Reference (automated)

Help and References

• Release Notes

• Сontribute