Open Energy Transition (OET), a non-profit dedicated to open-source software and energy planning, has launched the Open Energy Modelling Tool Tracker. This centralized resource helps the energy planning community navigate the open-source landscape by providing a tracker to explore and compare 206 tools using critical metrics and community insights, ensuring stakeholders have access to reliable and best-fit tools.
Key Contributions
- Data and Comparison: The Tool Tracker provides immediate insights for modellers and stakeholders to quickly assess:
- Which tools are most popular and actively maintained?
- Which tools have the strongest community support?
- Addresses Key Concerns: The Tool Tracker’s data helps the community avoid pitfalls and make smarter investments by shining a light on three crucial areas:
- Sustainability Risk: The data acts as an early warning system by showing which tools are at risk of being abandoned (e.g., fewer than 10 contributors).
- Usability Gaps: It identifies tools that are hard to adopt due to poor release management (no indexed builds), pushing developers to improve accessibility for new users.
- Interoperability Potential: The findings highlight how tools are specialized, reinforcing the need for different models to work together smoothly.
- Qualitative Assessments: OET stresses that deep qualitative investigation is essential for tool selection. The platform encourages users to consider:
- Documentation Quality: Are installation and usage guides clear and up to date?
- Community Support: Is there an active forum, mailing list, or issue tracker?
- Licensing & Governance: Is the licensing permissive or restrictive?
The Tool Tracker provides crucial transparency and evidence needed to select reliable, sustainable, and interoperable open-source tools, directly supporting timely, evidence-based policymaking for a net-zero economy.
Mobilize for the Future: Explore the Open Energy Modelling Tool Tracker today to ensure your energy planning is grounded in well-supported open-source software.
