Configuration files

When you calculate a scenario with NEMO, you can provide a configuration file that specifies run-time options. The file should be named nemo.ini or nemo.cfg and should be available in Julia's working directory. To check the working directory in a Julia session, use the pwd function. To change the working directory, use cd.

NEMO configuration files are text files written in ini syntax. The following run-time options can be set in a configuration file.

• calculatescenarioargs block
  • calcyears - Comma-delimited list of years to include in the scenario calculation. If this option is specified in a configuration file, it overrides the calcyears argument for calculatescenario.
  • varstosave - Comma-delimited list of output variables (Julia variable names) to save to the scenario database. NEMO adds values specified in a configuration file to those requested in the varstosave argument for calculatescenario.
  • numprocs - Number of Julia processes to use for parallelized operations (a positive integer or 0 for half the number of logical processors on the executing machine). If this option is specified in a configuration file, it overrides the numprocs argument for calculatescenario.
  • targetprocs - Comma-delimited list of identifiers of Julia processes that NEMO should use in parallelized operations. NEMO adds values specified in a configuration file to those requested in the targetprocs argument for calculatescenario.
  • restrictvars - Indicates whether NEMO should conduct additional data analysis to limit the set of model variables created for the scenario (true or false). By default, to improve performance, NEMO selectively creates certain variables to avoid combinations of subscripts that do not exist in the scenario's data. This option increases the stringency of this filtering. It requires more processing time as the model is built, but it can substantially reduce the solve time for large models. If this option is specified in a configuration file, it overrides the restrictvars argument for calculatescenario.
  • reportzeros - Indicates whether results saved in the scenario database should include values equal to zero (true or false). Forgoing zeros can substantially improve the performance of large models. If this option is specified in a configuration file, it overrides the reportzeros argument for calculatescenario.
  • continuoustransmission - Indicates whether continuous (true) or binary (false) variables are used to represent investment decisions for candidate transmission lines. Continuous decision variables can decrease model run-time but may reduce the realism of transmission simulations. This option is not relevant in scenarios that do not model transmission. If it is specified in a configuration file, it overrides the continuoustransmission argument for calculatescenario.
  • forcemip - Indicates whether NEMO is forced to formulate a mixed-integer optimization problem for the scenario (true or false). Activating this option can improve performance with some solvers (e.g., CPLEX). If this option is specified in a configuration file, it overrides the forcemip argument for calculatescenario. If you do not activate forcemip (in a configuration file or as an argument for calculatescenario), the input parameters in your scenario database determine whether the optimization problem for the scenario is mixed-integer. See the note under Solver compatibility for more information.
  • quiet - Indicates whether NEMO should suppress low-priority status messages (which are otherwise printed to STDOUT). If this option is specified in a configuration file, it overrides the quiet argument for calculatescenario.
• solver block
  • parameters - Comma-delimited list of solver run-time parameters. Format: parameter1=value1, parameter2=value2, ...
• includes block
  • beforescenariocalc - Path to a Julia script that should be run before NEMO calculates the scenario. The path should be defined relative to the Julia working directory (e.g., ./my_script.jl).
  • customconstraints - Path to a Julia script that should be run when NEMO builds constraints for the scenario. The script can be used to add custom constraints to the model. The path should be defined relative to the Julia working directory.

NEMO comes with a sample configuration file saved at utils/nemo.ini in the NEMO package directory. You can find the NEMO package directory in Julia as follows:

julia> using NemoMod

julia> println(normpath(joinpath(pathof(NemoMod), "..", "..")))

Here's an example of a configuration file that sets a few of the available options.

[calculatescenarioargs]
varstosave=vnewcapacity,vtotalcapacityannual
continuoustransmission=true

[solver]
parameters=CPX_PARAM_DEPIND=-1,CPXPARAM_LPMethod=1  ; Parameters for CPLEX solver

[includes]
beforescenariocalc=./before_scenario_script.jl
customconstraints=./custom_constraints.jl