PyPSA / PyPSA/pypsa-eur

Add `force synthetic` option to load configuration

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Dominant language
Python
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Avg merge
4d 14h
Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Description

Currently, the default configuration uses:

load:
    supplement_synthetic: true

Synthetic demand time series are used only when historical data are unavailable. However, for multi-decadal weather-year analyses (e.g. 1990-2020), it could be useful to have an additional option to force the use of synthetic demand across the entire study period.

Mixing synthetic and historical demand data introduces artificial discrepancies between years. Having a consistent demand modelling methodology makes it easier to attribute differences between years solely to meteorological variability.

Proposed solution

A configuration option such as:

load:
    force_synthetic: true

could provide a consistent methodology across all weather years while preserving the current default behaviour.

I already have a working implementation and would be happy to open a PR if the maintainers agree with this approach.

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by locating the handling of load.supplement_synthetic in the configuration and demand-loading workflow, then check whether related configuration tests or example files exist. Add the force_synthetic option while preserving the current default behavior, and verify that synthetic demand is used across all weather years when enabled.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
data
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
64/100

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