About the ETSAP

About the modelling community

For over four decades, ETSAP has been instrumental in supporting national governments, research institutions, and industry stakeholders by offering advanced energy modelling frameworks. These frameworks enable in-depth analysis of energy security, climate change mitigation, and economic development, ensuring a holistic approach to energy planning.

Contracting Parties

By conducting joint research leveraging ETSAP tools, Contracting Parties provide high-level advisory services to their national governments. For 50 years, ETSAP has been committed to advancing integrated energy system modelling platforms. The Executive Committee convene at least twice a year in person to share knowledge on model developments and applications, discuss the research agenda, and implement a collective programme of work. Any country can apply to become a Contracting Party to ETSAP.

AUSTRALIA
ExCo-Delegate: Mr. Luke Reedman [Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation – CSIRO]
Alternate Delegate: Mr. Thomas Brinsmead [Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation – CSIRO]

BELGIUM
ExCo-Delegate: Mr. Frank Meinke-Hubeny [VITO]
Alternate Delegate: Ms. Nathalie Arnould [SPW – Service Public de la Wallonie] Bruxeles Environment – IBGE / Leefmilieu Brussel – BIM

CANADA
ExCo-Delegate: Jocelyn Millet [CanmetENERGY in Varennes]
Alternate Delegate: Kathleen Vaillancourt [ESMIA Consultants]

DENMARK
ExCo-Delegate: Steffen Dockweiler [Danish Energy Agency]
Alternate Delegate: Lars B. Termansen [Danish Energy Agency]

FINLAND
ExCo-Delegate: Karin Wikman Monserand
Alternate Delegate: Ms. Tiina Koljonen [Technical Research Centre – VTT]

FRANCE
ExCo-Delegates: Ms. Alma Monserand [Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Energie – ADEME]
Alternate Delegate: Ms. Sandrine Selosse [Centre for Applied Mathematics (CMA) MINES Paris Tech]

GERMANY
ExCo-Delegate: Mr. Markus Blesl [Universität Stuttgart, Institute of Energy Economics and the Rational Use of Energy – IER]
Alternate Delegate: Mr. Christoph Jessen [Projektträger Jülich / Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH]

GREECE
ExCo-Delegate: Mr. Philip Siakkis [Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving (CRES)]
Alternate Delegate: n.a.

IRELAND
ExCo-Delegate: Mr. Brian O’Gallachoir [University College Cork]
Alternate Delegate: Pádraig Daly [Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland – SEAI]

ITALY
ExCo-Delegates: Ms. Maria Gaeta [RSE]
Alternate Delegate: Mr. Fabio Lanati [RSE]

JAPAN
ExCo-Delegate: Mr. Yuhji Matsuo [Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University and The Institute of Energy Economics]
Alternate Delegate: Mr. Seiya Endo [The Institute of Energy Economics]

KAZAKHSTAN
ExCo-Delegate: Dr. Aidar Zhakupov [Nazarbayev University Research and Innovation System]
Alternate Delegate: Ms. Aiymgul Kerimray [Nazarbayev University Research and Innovation System]

KOREA
ExCo-Delegate: Mr. Kang Hoon Lee [Korea Energy Agency (KEA)]
Alternate Delegate: Mr. Hye Bin Jang [Korea Energy Agency (KEA)]

THE NETHERLANDS
ExCo-Delegate: Mr. Bob van der Zwaan [TNO]
Alternate Delegate: n.a.

NEW ZEALAND
ExCo-Delegate: Mr. Gareth Gretton [Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority]
Alternate Delegate: Mr. Will Catton [Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority]

NORWAY
ExCo-Delegate: Ms. Kari Aamodt Espegren [Institute for Energy Technology – IFE]
Alternate Delegate: n.a.

The RUSSIAN FEDERATION
ExCo-Delegate: Mr. Sergey Filippov [Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ERI-RAS)]
Alternate Delegate: Mr. Fedor Veselov [Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ERI-RAS)]

SINGAPORE
ExCo-Delegate: Mr. Jonathan (Sze Choong) Low [A*STAR]
Alternate Delegate: Mr. Tang Wey Lin [Prime minister’s office]

SPAIN
ExCo-Delegate: Ms. Yolanda Lechon [CIEMAT]
Alternate Delegate: Mr. Daniel Garrain [CIEMAT]

SWEDEN
ExCo-Delegate: Mr. Erik Sandberg [Swedish Energy Agency – STEM]
Alternate Delegate: Mr. Erik Ahlgren [Chalmers University of Technology] & Ms. Anna Krook Riekkola [Luleå University of Technology]

SWITZERLAND
ExCo-Delegate: Dr. Anne-Kathrin Faust [Swiss Federal Office of Energy]
Alternate Delegate: Dr. Evangelos Panos [PAUL SCHERRER Institute – PSI]

UNITED KINGDOM
ExCo-Delegate: Mr. Todd Davidson [BEIS]
Alternate Delegate: Mr. Paul Dodds [UCL Energy Institute – UCL] & Mr. Steve Pye [UCL Energy Institute – UCL]

UNITED STATES
ExCo-Delegate: Ms. Angelina La Rose [U.S. Energy Information Administration]
Alternate Delegate: n.a.

Global community

Beyond these Contracting Parties, the ETSAP community drives significant initiatives to develop open-source solutions for energy scenario modelling. The community’s foundation includes national teams in over 50 countries, sharing a common, comparable, and combinable methodology—primarily the MARKAL/TIMES family of models. These models support the creation of long-term energy scenarios and enable comprehensive analyses of energy systems at various scales. The ETSAP community acknowledges the role of diversity and gender equity in the modelling community.

About the modelling platform

At the core of ETSAP’s activities is the TIMES (The Integrated MARKAL-EFOM System) model generator, a technology-rich, bottom-up, and robust approach widely adopted worldwide for long-term energy system optimisation. TIMES combines two complementary approaches to modelling energy – a technical engineering approach and an economic approach – and uses linear programming to generate least-cost energy system solutions under user-defined constraints. TIMES is the successor of the MARKAL model generator.

The methodology is open-source, well-tested, and adaptable, allowing researchers to replicate analyses and make incremental improvements where needed. The TIMES documentation covers the technical aspects while numerous reports showcase real-world policy applications, making it highly relevant for decision-makers. To promote accessibility, ETSAP workshops are offered free of charge, with presentations made publicly available online.

About the governance and management structure

Governance

The legal text which defines the operation of ETSAP is the Implementing Agreement which defines the overall objectives, the procedures of creating new Annexes, the management structure, finance, intellectual property rights, admission and withdrawal procedures.

Management team

The decisions in ETSAP are taken by the Executive Committee which consist of one delegate designated by each Contracting Party (and sometimes an alternate delegate). The Executive Committee each year elect a Chair and one or more Vice-Chairs.

The day-to-day operation of IEA-ETSAP is handled by the Operating Agent supported by the Project Head, by encouraging more participation of the existing Contracting Parties, by contributing to the enlargement of the ETSAP community and by contributing to the execution of the work programme.

Brian Ó Gallachóir

Chair, Executive Committee, ETSAP-IEA Professor, University College Cork
Director, MaREI Centre
Cork, Ireland
b.ogallachoir@ucc.ie

Tiina Koljonen

Deputy chair, Executive Committee, ETSAP-IEA Research Team Leader, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Espoo, Finland
Tiina.Koljonen@vtt.fi

George Giannakidis

Project Head, ETSAP-IEA
Managing Director & Founder, EnTC Energy Transition Consultants
Athens, Greece
ggian@etsap.org

Markus Blesl

Deputy chair, Executive Committee, ETSAP-IEA Professor, Institute for Energy Economics and Rational use of Energy of the University (IER)
Stuttgart, Germany
Markus.Blesl@ier.uni-stuttgart.de

Kathleen Vaillancourt

Operating Agent, ETSAP-IEA
President, ESMIA Consultants
Montreal, Canada
kathleen@esmia.ca

Uwe Remme

ETSAP Desk Officer
International Energy Agency Secretariat (IEA)
Paris, France
Uwe Remme

Technical Contacts

TIMES: Antti Lehtila
GAMS: Gary Goldstein
VEDA: Amit Kanudia

Meeting minutes

Since 1994, ETSAP has documented the discussions and decisions of its Executive Committee (ExCo) meetings. These minutes provide a transparent record of the community’s activities, including strategic directions, collaborative projects, model developments, training initiatives, and interactions with international partners.
They serve both as an institutional memory and as a resource for delegates, researchers, and stakeholders who wish to follow the evolution of ETSAP’s work over time.

Browse the archive

About the ongoing work programme

The work is organized in three-year programmes called ‘Annexes’. The current Annex XVI for 2023-2025 is titled: Aligning energy security with zero emissions energy systems.

Geopolitical events in 2022 highlighted the pressing need to design future energy systems capable of meeting societal energy demands while addressing climate change and ensuring energy security. By identifying critical technologies and shaping policies to accelerate their adoption, the programme supports evidence-based, integrated energy system analysis to drive informed decision-making. The main objectives for the Annex XVI include: a) maintenance and enhancement of ETSAP modelling tools and capacity-building initiatives, and b) research and development activities on key themes such as critical minerals, agriculture, biomass sustainability, demand side flexibility, social systems, structural changes, circular economy, energy security and energy resilience.

See previous Annexes here

Annex XVII (2026-2028) – Energy systems, socio-technical systems and structural change
Annex XVI (2023-2025) – Aligning energy security with zero emissions energy systems
Annex XV (2020-2022) – Energy system and sustainable development goals
Annex XIV (2017-2019) – Understanding and facilitating the energy transition to achieve the ‘well below 2oC’ goal
Annex XIII (2014-2016) – Tools for Analysis of a Future Energy Revolution (TAFER): Methodologies, Tools and Data Bases
Annex XII (2011-2013) – Policy analysis tools for global sustainability: E4 systems tools and joint studies
Annex XI (2008-2010) – Joint studies for new and mitigated energy systems
Annex X (2006-2007) – Global energy systems and common analyses
Annex IX (2004-2005) – Exploring energy technology perspectives
Annex VIII (2002-2003) – Energy models users’ group
Annex VII (1999-2001) – Contributing to the Kyoto Protocol
Annex VI (1996-1998) – Dealing with uncertainty together
Annex V (1993-1995) – New directions in energy modelling
Annex IV (1990-1992) – National energy options for reducing CO2 emissions Volume 1 : The international connection
Annex III (1987-1989) – Estimating national costs of controlling emissions from the energy system
Annex II (1984-1986) – Information exchange project
Annex I (1981-1983) – Energy technology systems analysis programme

How to become a Contracting Party and benefit from the ETSAP advantages?

About the advantage of being a Contracting Party

There are numerous advantages in being a Contracting Party of ETSAP, apart from being a part of a unique network of energy modelling teams from many countries using the MARKAL/TIMES family of models to carry out a common programme of work on behalf of their governments and to provide energy policy advice to various stakeholders. These benefits include:

A small group licence (5 users) of the model interface VEDA-2.0 for MARKAL/TIMES.
The access to the ETSAP-TIAM model at no charge: a multi-regional global model divided in 16 regions that includes a detailed representation of energy systems with more than one thousand technologies and one hundred commodities in each region, as well as a climate module permitting the computation and modelling of globally averaged temperature-change limits related to concentrations, radiative forcing and temperature increase.
Participation free of charge for participants (up to three at each training) appointed by each Contracting Party to the VEDA-TIMES training courses organised by ETSAP. Basic trainings are offered approximately six times a year: two times in persons and four times online.
Possibility to submit and vote on collaborative research projects that can be funded by ETSAP. ETSAP allocates a part of its annual budget to fund common research projects, among its Contracting Parties. The project proposals are submitted at the autumn Executive Committee meeting and are ranked by the Contracting Parties using a predefined set of criteria.
One vote to any other decision taken by the Executive Committee: topics of the Annexes, training offering, etc.

Process for becoming an ETSAP Contracting Party

Any country can become a contracting party of ETSAP. The Executive Committee approves the fee for participation – currently 20k€ fee per annum for governments and 30k€ fee for sponsors.
The following steps must be followed for a government or a sponsor to become a participant of ETSAP.

A notification of interest is submitted to the ETSAP management team (contacts are above).
The Executive Committee unanimously decides to invite the Ministry or Sponsor to join ETSAP.
A letter is sent by the Chair inviting the relevant Ministry or sponsor to join ETSAP.
In the case of a government there are two options:
1. The Government can decide that the relevant Ministry will be a Contracting Party
2. The Government nominates an Institution within the country to be the Contracting Party.
In the case of a government which is not a member of the IEA and in the case of a sponsor an approval by the Committee on Energy Research and Technology (CERT) of the IEA is necessary.
The relevant Ministry or nominated Institution or Sponsor, accepts the invitation, sending acceptance letters to the IEA, appointing an Executive Committee delegate and alternate delegate.
The legal department of the IEA provides the signature page of the Implementing Agreement
The signature page is signed by the authorized representative. The date of the signature is the effective date of participation to ETSAP.