openENTRANCE (open ENergy TRanstion ANalyses for a low-Carbon Economy) aims at developing, using and disseminating an open, transparent and integrated modelling platform for assessing low-carbon transition pathways in Europe. The openENTRANCE modelling platform will shed light on the implications and economic costs associated to the different energy pathways that Europe could take towards its climate goals. With this scientific basis, openENTRANCE aims at helping social, economic and political actors in a better decision making. The EU has set the ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the point of becoming climate neutral by 2050 and prevent the negative and irreversible effects of climate change. This goal includes shifting the energy system to renewable and clean system, as well as technological, behavioural and organisational changes in the economy and society. For doing so, the coordination of relevant technologic solutions, policies, funding and actors, with well-defined targets based on scientific analyses will be required. In response, openENTRANCE is developing an open-source modelling platform that will:

• Allow carrying out scientific calculations and assessments for different future options of a low-carbon Europe.
• Link and integrate macro-economic and energy system models, and provide economic (e.g. GDP, employment) and human behavioural data (e.g. energy consumption habits) relevant for the energy transition to be used in modelling analyses.
• Support stakeholders to determine macro-economic consequences of the energy transition and identify the best ways to transition to a ‘low-carbon’ economy.
• Be openly available to use by any interested users, targeting mainly researchers and modellers.

Stakeholders will increase openness of the openENTRANCE platform. openENTRANCE hosts workshops to engage with policy and decision makers, businesses, researchers and civil society to increase openness to collaborative research on energy system modelling. Involved stakeholders will discuss the most pressing energy transition challenges that require investigation, how the research approach should be, which data sources are relevant, or how to interpret the results. Additionally, discussions among researchers will be facilitated regarding the functionality of the open platform and how it can be developed and used within and beyond openENTRANCE.

openENTRANCE started in May 2019 and will end in April 2023. The consortium includes 14 leading energy modelling and advocacy groups. It counts with a budget of 4.9 Million Euros.

Project details

• Project title: open ENergy TRanstion ANalyses for a low-Carbon Economy (openENTRANCE)
• Funding scheme: European Union Horizon 2020 Programme (EU H2020, grant agreement no. 835896)
• Duration: 4 years (1 May 2019 – 30 April 2023)
• Project coordinator: SINTEF Energi AS, Norway
• Project website: http://www.openentrance.eu