Energy modelling platforms for policy and strategy support

The energy field has been dominated by ‘hard’ modelling approaches advocated by researchers from engineering and economics disciplines. The recent trend towards a more liberalised environment moves away from central planning to market-based resource allocation, leading to the creation and use of strategic tools, with much ‘softer’ specifications, in the ‘systems-thinking’ tradition. This paper presents the use of system dynamics in a generalised way, to provide a platform for integrated energy analysis. Issues of modularity and policy evolution are important in the design of the modelling platform to facilitate its use, and reuse. Hence the concept of a platform, rather than a model, has to be implemented in a coherent way if it is to provide sustained value for ongoing support to both government policy and corporate strategy.