THE TIMES MODEL
The official documentation
A key strength of the IEA-ETSAP methodology is its detailed and openly available documentation. This commitment to transparency has created a positive cycle: the methodology is applied in diverse contexts, these applications are documented, and the shared knowledge fuels innovation.
Because the model is used by a large and decentralised community, new features and modelling practices are regularly shared and adopted, strengthening the collective capability. As a result, the IEA-ETSAP methodology stands as the leading open-source approach to energy system modelling.
Limited support is available at support@etsap.org. Organisations or inviduals who are interested in receiving more substantial support may submit a request via the ETSAP Contact form and arrange an annual support fee.
TIMES main documentation
The TIMES documentation set is the essential reference for building, managing, and applying the model generator to deliver optimal energy system insights.
Part I
TIMES Part I – Concepts and theory
Part I provides a general description of the TIMES paradigm, with emphasis on the model’s general structure and its economic significance. It also includes a simplified mathematical formulation of TIMES, a chapter comparing it to the MARKAL model, pointing to similarities and differences, and chapters describing new model options.
Part II
TIMES Part II – Comprehensive reference manual
Part II constitutes a comprehensive reference manual intended for the technically minded modeler or programmer looking for an in-depth understanding of the complete model details, in particular the relationship between the input data and the model mathematics, or contemplating making changes to the model’s equations. It includes a full description of the sets, attributes, variables, and equations of the TIMES model.
Part III
TIMES Part III – The operation of the TIMES code
Part III describes the organization of the TIMES modeling environment and the GAMS control statements required to run the TIMES model. GAMS is a modeling language that translates a TIMES database into the Linear Programming matrix, and then submits this LP to an optimizer and generates the result files. It describes how the routines comprising the TIMES source code guide the model through compilation, execution, solve, and reporting; the files produced by the run process and their use; and the various switches that control the execution of the TIMES code according to the model instance, formulation options, and run options selected by the user. It also includes a section on identifying and resolving errors that may occur during the run process.
Part IV
TIMES Part IV – VEDA 2.0
Part IV provides a step-by-step introduction to building a TIMES model in the VEDA2.0 user interface for model management and results analysis. It first offers an orientation to the basic features of VEDA2.0, including software layout, data files and tables, and model management features, both for handling the input and examining the results. It then describes in detail twelve Demo models that progressively introduce VEDA-TIMES principles and modeling techniques.
TIMES complementary documentation
Additional resources document specific extensions:
- TIMES_Elastic supply cost curves
- TIMES_Stochastic programming and tradeoff analysis
- TIMES_Objective function variants
- TIMES_Grid modelling features
- TIMES_Residual Load Curves
- TIMES_Dispatching and unit commitment
- TIMES_Introducing ancillary services markets
- TIMES_Retrofits and lifetime extensions
- TIMES_Elastic demand functions
- TIMES-Macro_Documentation
- TIMES-Macro_Decomposition into hard-linked LP and NLP problems
Additional resources provide further technical depth:
MARKAL documentation
MARKAL is the predecessor of TIMES. While the MARKAL code continues to be supported in its current form, no new updates are planned.
- Part I: MARKAL Part I – Standard MARKAL
- Part II: MARKAL Part II – MARKAL MACRO
- Part III: MARKAL Part III – SAGE
- Appendix A: MARKAL Matrix
Here is a comparison between TIMES and MARKAL model generators.
The TIMES
model
Introduction
to TIMES
Getting started with TIMES modelling
