Stuart is a mechanical engineer and energy policy expert. Having read and analyzed hundreds of studies in the sphere of global energy transition, he has returned to academia after three years at Europe's largest industry association VDMA. He is now focusing his experience and knowledge into joining forces to make SDG7 a reality. International and interdisciplinary collaboration is where he feels most comfortable. His current focus as a Research Associate at Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT) lies on modelling a transboundary energy system in Southern Africa using the open energy system modelling framework PyPSA-Earth.

What is energy system modeling and why is it useful? This talk will deep-dive into how energy system models reflect real-world systems and what implications this has on the global energy transition. Moreover, it explores what the open-source movement has to offer for the field – by the example of PyPSA meets Earth.

PyPSA meets Earth is an independent research initiative focusing on the provision of open energy transition tools and data. While the initiative started in spring 2021 with an initial focus on Africa, the scope has broadened to cover other continents, evolving the initiative to its current form of PyPSA meets Earth. The initiatives vision is to create a useful alternative to closed-source energy system models for industry and research. Its mission is to build a free and open energy system model prototype – PyPSA-Earth – based on the PyPSA toolbox, create open data for the world and improve open-source solvers.

PyPSA-Earth is currently supported by a sustainable community of users, developers and maintainers and aims to establish an open-source support organization which will collect and allocate funds to contributors, allowing for a continuous development of the tool. Empowering people all around the world to perform their own regional studies and improve our tools themselves is at the heart of the initiative. Join this talk and join our vibrant community!