Research Network for the Development of New Methods of Energy System Modeling - 4NEMO

Partners	Center for Energy, Climate and Exhaustible Resources – Ifo Institute (Prof. Pittel) German Aerospace Center Ewi Energy Research & Scenarios The Institute of Energy and Climate Research – Systems Analysis and Technology Evaluation – Research Center Jülich Institute for Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior – RWTH Aachen (Prof. Madlener) Faculty of Economics – Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg (Prof. Rübbelke) Institute of Energy Economics and Rational Energy Use – University of Stuttgart (Prof. Hufendiek) Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Manage-ment – Centre for European Economic Research
Funding	Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
Duration	November 2016 to October 2019
Contact	M.Sc. Kais Siala

Overview of the research project 4NEMO

The dynamics of the European energy system are increasingly shaped by regulatory interventions, the expansion of renewable energies and the interaction of all social actors. This development is reflected in the variety of methods and orientations of existing energy models. Nevertheless, these models are often hardly able to depict the challenges of system transformation. Uncertainties, socio-economic factors and also the interaction of the energy sector are often only considered rudimentarily. Therefore, this collaborative project has two main objectives:

1. The integration of economic and societal factors and the associated manifestations of uncertainty in energy models is to be improved. To this end, the energy models of the project partners are further developed coordinately.
2. The coherence, comparability and transparency of models should be increased. Systematic model comparisons and analyses using scenarios derived from the project would enhance the understanding of the specific advantages of the models. A result space is generated that maps the strengths and weaknesses of the different models. In this context, the implicit sensitivity analysis with respect to model structures makes it possible for the collaborative project to have significant outcomes.

Overall, the project will contribute to an improvement in the meaningfulness, interpretability and comparability of political analyses by means of energy models. This joint project coordinates nine renowned research institutes and universities in order to meet these goals.