Software Hints

Tools we are using

The complete list of software needed for work with PyPSA Earth is listed below.

Python

Python 3 is our main programming language, so proficiency is essential.

To refresh your knowledge, you can use plenty of online courses free-of-charge, e.g. CSDojo playlist. It is also helpful to review material on NumPy and pandas.

Conda

In order to use packages in python, it is highly recommended to use a conda package manager, such as Anaconda

You may check if conda is already installed on your system with conda -V. In case it's not we recommend to install miniconda, which is a mini version of Anaconda and includes only conda and its dependencies.

For instructions for your operating system follow the conda installation guide.

We recommend installing mamba in the conda base environment as that makes dependencies management much faster.

Useful hints on installing Anaconda and setting up Ubuntu terminal with VSCode in Windows is available here.

There are many things which could go wrong with conda. This article provides you a crystal clear explanation of conda (excellent read).

Git

Git is a free open source system aimed at tracking changes in the code development and enables coordination of parallel software development between many developers.

It is highly recommended to learn the git basics.

Solvers

Useful instructions of installation and setup:

• HiGHS solver;

• Gurobi solver.

Integrated Development Environment

In order to write and debug python code, you need an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which is software used to write code. We recommend Visual Studio Code, which is freely available online and provides an easy-to-use interface with Git. Obviously, any alternatives like PyCharm or Sublime will work as well.

System requirements

Building the model with the scripts in this repository runs on a normal computer with 8-16 GB RAM. Depending of the region of interest, different amounts of storage (HHD/SSD) are required. A model of Africa requires about 40 GB, the world 250 GB, a single country between 1-10 GB. We have also prepared a tutorial which should be below 10 GB.