PLEXOS 6.208 Release Notes
1. Upgrade Compatibility
This version will automatically upgrade any previous Version 5 or Version 6 database. You may need to check the upgrade notes of earlier releases for any compatibility issues.
Once converted to 6.208 format, databases in this version may require some manual work to be retro-graded to earlier versions. The following items will require manual retro-grading:
- LT Plan Chronology was previously Chronological (Yes/No)
- MT Schedule Chronology was previously Chronological (Yes/No)
2. Changes
A new algorithm is available for selecting the chronology of long and mid-term simulations:
- LT Plan Chronological (Yes/No) switch is replaced with Chronology
- MT Schedule Chronological (Yes/No) is replaced with Chronology
The following improvements have been made related to simulation execution:
- The code that writes solution data to disk during and at the completion of the simulation has been substantially revised to provide better performance especially for customers running multiple large simulations simultaneously.
- Handling of temporary files used during a simulation has been improved to reduce the number of files left on disk when a run is interrupted by the user.
The properties for ramp constraints on Line and Interface classes are now split into "up" and "down" directions. See:
- Line Max Ramp Up
- Line Max Ramp Down
and
- Interface Max Ramp Up
- Interface Max Ramp Down
3. Features
The following are new features implemented in this release:
- The Abatement class is introduced. This class is used to model emission abatement technologies such as FGD, ESP and PAC in detail
- As mentioned above, LT Plan and MT Schedule provide a new chronology option "Sampled" which allows your simulations to run a full chronology but for only a reduced number of days/weeks/months with the results expanded out to the full horizon automatically. This is particularly relevant for capturing the value of flexibility in the generation system when performing long-term capacity expansion planning.
- Generator Build Cost now supports a multi-band input scheme that allows you to enter the cost of a project on a 'cash-out' basis i.e. as a stream of payments leading up to the commissioning date.
- Generator build set size forces expansion in sets of a certain number of units e.g. 10,20 etc.
- Several new Diagnostic switches are available. For example, Objective Function prints a file with all non-zero objective function terms. This is especially useful for LT Plan when you need to reconcile all costs.
- Finer control is now possible over when integers are used to model non-convex heat functions and hydro efficiency functions with the Generator Formulate Non-convex switch.
- It is now possible to enforce a Max Up Time, which is useful for modelling demand-side participation where the option can be exercised only for a limited number of hours at a time e.g certain industrial loads such as refrigeration.
- The full set of reliability statistics such as Region LOLP can now be computed in LT Plan rather than needing to run PASA.
- The fuel contract class now includes a FO&M Charge property.
- The Market class adds fixed costs to sell/buy blocks with the Buy Block Fixed Charge and Sell Block Fixed Charge properties.
- Constraints can now be defined on the maximum of the left-hand side terms (rather than the sum) e.g. on the maximum annual generation of one or more generators. See the Constraint LHS Type for details.
- The Constraint class adds the coefficients Generators Constraint Generators.Available Capacity Coefficient, Purchasers Reserve Provision Coefficient, Regions Constraint Regions.Generators Built Coefficient, Zones Constraint Zones.Generators Built Coefficient as well as coefficients on Abatement.
- A new option is available for transmission modelling. The Transmission Network Reduction algorithm can automatically reduce the transmission network to an equivalent faster but mathematically equivalent representation. This is useful for speeding up simulations on large-scale networks.
- The new property Reserve Duration adds further functionality to the ancillary services co-optimization by modelling the implied energy reservation on storage as a result of reserve provision.
4. User Interface
The following changes have been implemented in the user interface:
- You can no open the input file associated with a solution file via the "Open Input" command on the ribbon.
- File comparison differences can now be exported to Excel.
- The user interface now fully inter-operates with the latest version of PLEXOS Connect.
5. New Inputs
The following table lists all the new input properties available in this release. Please refer to the help for detailed information.
| Collection | Property | Relates To |
|---|---|---|
| LT Plan | Chronology | Replaces Chronological switch (see above) |
| LT Plan | Sample Type | "Sampled" chronology option |
| LT Plan | Reduced Sample | ... |
| LT Plan | Reduction Relative Accuracy | ... |
| LT Plan | Compute Reliability Indices | Turns on calculation of Region LOLP and other reliability statistics |
| MT Schedule | Chronology | Replaces Chronological switch (see above) |
| MT Schedule | Sample Type | "Sampled" chronology option |
| MT Schedule | Reduced Sample Counts | ... |
| MT Schedule | Reduction Relative Accuracy | ... |
| MT Schedule | Outage Increment | Effective Load Approach |
| Competition | Demand Scaling | If Nash-Cournot result scales input loads to reflect price elasticity of demand. |
| Diagnostic | Step From | Limiting the production of diagnostics |
| Step To | Step To | ... |
| Diagnostic | Max Infeasibility Log Lines | Diagnostic Infeasibility |
| Diagnostic | Objective Function | Objective function terms (see above) |
| Generator | Formulate Non-convex | Controls use of integers in heat rate/efficiency modelling |
| Generator | Max Up Time | Modelling demand-side options (see above) |
| Generator | Build Set Size | Expansion must occur in sets of this many units where zero indicates any set size. |
| Reserve | Duration | Time over which the required response must be maintained |
| Fuel Contract | FO&M Charge | Annual fixed charge for the fuel contract |
| Abatement | Units | Flag if emission abatement technology is installed |
| Abatement | Abatement Cost | Cost per unit of emission removed |
| Abatement | Running Cost | Fixed cost of running emission abatement when generators are on-line. |
| Abatement | VO&M Charge | Cost per unit of generation |
| Abatement | Units Out | Flag if emission abatement technology is out-of-service |
| Abatement | x | Value to pass-through to solution |
| Abatement | y | Value to pass-through to solution |
| Abatement | z | Value to pass-through to solution |
| Abatement | z | Value to pass-through to solution |
| Abatement Generators | Generation Participation Factor | Proportion of generator emissions that feed into the abatement technology |
| Abatement Emissions | Abatement Cost | Cost per unit of emission removed for this emission |
| Abatement Emissions | Efficiency | Efficiency of emission abatement at national zero generation |
| Abatement Emissions | Max Abatement | Maximum emission abatement rate for this emission |
| Abatement Fuels | Efficiency Scalar | Relative efficiency of emission abatement for generation on the fuel |
| Abatement Consumables | Consumptions Base | Consumption at notional zero generation level |
| Market | Sell Block Fixed Charge | Fixed cost of block sales |
| Market | Buy Block Fixed Charge | Fixed cost of block purchases |
| Region | Include in Marginal Unit | Flag if the region is included in the Region Marginal Unit Diagnostic |
| Company | Min Maintenance | Generation capacity that must be scheduled on maintenance |
| Company | Max Maintenance Factor | Maximum generation capacity allowed to be scheduled on maintenance as a proportion of installed capacity |
| Company | Min Maintenance Factor | Generation capacity that must be scheduled on maintenance as a proportion of installed capacity |
| Constraint | LHS Type | Action applied over left-hand side coefficients |
| Constraint Generators | Available Capacity Coefficient | Coefficient of available capacity |
| Constraint Generators | Hours Down Coefficient | Coefficient of the number of hours the generating has been off |
| Constraint Abatements | Abatement Coefficient | Coefficient of emissions abated |
| Constraint Abatements | Abatement Coefficient | Coefficient of emissions abated |
| Constraint Abatements | Hours of Operation Coefficient | Coefficient of number of hours the emission abatement technology is running |
| Constraint Purchasers | Reserve Provision Coefficient | Coefficient of interruptible load provision |
| Constraint Regions | Generators Built Coefficient | Coefficient on binary variable indicating if any generation capacity was built |
| Constraint Zones | Generators Built Coefficient | Coefficient on binary variable indicating if any generation capacity was built |
6. New Outputs
The following new output properties are added:
| Collection | Property | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Generator | Abatement Cost | Cost of emission abatement |
| Generator Companies | Abatement Cost | Cost of emission abatement |
| Fuel Contract | Take-or-Pay Violation | Violation of take-or-pay constraint |
| Fuel Contract | Take-or-Pay Violation Cost | Cost of take-or-pay constraint violation |
| Fuel Contract | FO&M Cost | Total fixed operations and maintenance costs |
| Fuel Contract | Total Cost | Total of fixed and variable costs |
| Emission | Gross Production | Emissions prior to removal or abatement |
| Emission | Removal | Emissions removed |
| Emission | Removal Cost | Cost of emission removal |
| Emission | Abatement | Emissions abated |
| Emission | Abatement Cost | Cost of emission abatement |
| Emission Fuels | Gross Production | Emissions prior to removal or abatement |
| Emission Fuels | Removal | Emissions removed |
| Emission Fuels | Removal Cost | Cost of emission removal |
| Emission Fuels | Abatement | Emissions abated |
| Emission Fuels | Abatement Cost | Cost of emission abatement |
| Abatement | Units | Flag if emission abatement technology is installed |
| Abatement | Hours of Operation | Number of hours of operation |
| Abatement | Gross Emissions | Emission input to the abatement technology |
| Abatement | Abatement | Emissions abated |
| Abatement | Net Emissions | Emissions net of abatement |
| Abatement | Efficiency | Efficiency of emission abatement |
| Abatement | Abatement Cost | Total of semi-fixed and variable abatement costs |
| Abatement | Running Cost | Total of semi-fixed and variable abatement costs |
| Abatement | VO&M Cost | Total variable operation and maintenance cost |
| Abatement | Total Cost | Total of fixed, semi-fixed and variable costs |
| Abatement | Abatement Value | Value of emissions abated |
| Abatement | Abatement Net Cost | Net of [Total Cost] and [Abatement Value] |
| Abatement | Units Out | Flag if emission abatement technology is out-of-service |
| Abatement | x | Pass-through value (summed in summary) |
| Abatement | y | Pass-through value (Summed in summary) |
| Abatement | z | Pass-through value (averaged in summary) |
| Abatement Emissions | Gross Emissions | Emission input to the abatement technology for this emission |
| Abatement Emissions | Abatement | Emissions abated for this emission |
| Abatement Emissions | Net Emissions | Emissions net of abatement for this emission |
| Abatement Emissions | Efficiency | Efficiency of emission abatement for this emission |
| Abatement Emissions | Abatement Value | Value of emissions abated for this emission |
| Abatement Consumables | Consumption | Consumable Used |
| Abatement Consumables | Cost | Cost of consumable used |
| Region | Abatement Cost | Cost of emission abatement |
| Region | Net Market Profit | Net profit from all market nodes |
| Region | Annualized Build Cost | Annualized cost of generating units built |
| Region | Total Cost | Total of fixed and variable generation costs |
| Region | Levelized Cost | Levelized cost of electricity |
| Region Emissions | Gross Production | Emissions prior to removal or abatement |
| Region Emissions | Removal | Remissions removed |
| Region Emissions | Removal Cost | Cost of emission removal |
| Region Emissions | Abatement | Emissions abated |
| Region Emissions | Abatement Cost | Cost or emissions abatement |
| Zone | Abatement Cost | Cost of emission |
| Zone | Generator Net Revenue | Generator net revenue (producer surplus) |
| Zone | Generator Net Profit | Net profit from generators in zone |
| Zone | Net Market Profit | Net profit from all market nodes |
| Zone | Annualized Build Cost | Annualized cost of generating units built |
| Zone | Total Cost | Total of fixed and variable generation costs |
| Zone | Levelized Cost | Levelized cost of electricity |
| Zone Emissions | Production | Net production of the emission |
| Zone Emissions | Gross Production | Emissions prior to removal or abatement |
| Zone Emissions | Removal | Emissions removed |
| Zone Emissions | Removal Cost | Cost of emission removal |
| Zone Emissions | Abatement | Emissions abated |
| Zone Emissions | Abatement Cost | Cost of emission removal |
| Zone Emissions | Generation | Generation associated with the emission |
| Zone Emissions | Intensity | Emission intensity of generation |
| Zone Emissions | Cost | Emission cost |
| Company | Abatement Cost | Cost of emission abatement |
| Company | Annualized Build Cost | Annualized cost of generating units built |
| Company | Total Cost | Total of fixed and variable generation costs |
| Company | Levelized Cost | Levelized cost of electricity |
| Company Emissions | Gross Production | Emissions prior to removal or abatement |
| Company Emissions | Removal | Emissions removed |
| Company Emissions | Removal Cost | Cost of emission removal |
| Company Emissions | Abatement | Emissions abated |
| Company Emissions | Abatement Cost | Cost or emissions abatement |