The stability and reliability of the energy system are of critical importance for all aspects of modern life. These issues encompass the electrical infrastructure, but also other energy carriers like gas, heat and water. For the planning, operation and economic evaluation of the Swiss multi-energy system, Nexus-e provides a detailed representation of the Swiss transmission system as a basis for the bulk multi-​energy grid model.

We analyze the feasibility of the Swiss decarbonization by combining the detailed representation of the Swiss electricity market of Nexus-e with the pan-European, energy sector–wide perspective of Calliope, an energy system model developed by the Climate Policy group at ETH Zurich. The collaboration with Calliope will provide Nexus-e with new scenarios of electricity demand and energy system cost. Calliope in turn profits from Nexus-e’s feedback about what its assumptions about generation capacities mean for electricity markets and for the Swiss transmission grid.

Addressing climate change and achieving the 1.5°C target requires a transition from a centralized, fossil-fuel-based towards a decentralized, renewable-based energy system. Long-term, large-scale energy systems models, such as Nexus-e, are useful in improving our understanding of such transitions and are seeing increased relevance in the face of stringent climate policy, energy security, and economic development concerns. However, they often lack appropriate spatiotemporal resolutions to capture the broad scope of economic and technical challenges. In this project, we collaborate with Prof. Arno Schlüter and the Singapore-ETH Center to tackle current energy system modeling limitations by coupling the City Energy Analyst tool with Nexus-e.