EmPowerPlan

EmPowerPlan – Interactive planning tool for the regional energy transition

What does EmPowerPlan help with?

EmPowerPlan was developed by RLI scientists and builds a bridge between regional planning and energy systems. It helps regional actors to better understand and help shape this transformation.

It supports regional planning in the expansion of renewable energies by:

• Visualization of energy production, consumption and land potential.
• Creation and evaluation of scenarios.
• Presentation of justice aspects and consensus areas.
• Promoting transparency and communication between actors.

Who is the tool for?

• Primary target group: Regional planning communities,
• Other users: local governments, climate protection managers, political decision-makers, civil society organisations.
• Professional and non-professional users: The tool offers basic functions for laypeople and complex scenario functions for experts.

How does the EmPowerPlan tool work?

EmPowerPlan links a wide range of data, visualises potential and allows the optimisation of the energy system on the basis of individual scenarios. In the Oderland-Spree region, it accompanies the update of the sub-regional plan for renewable energies on a data-based and transparent basis. Thanks to open source and open data, transfer to other regions is possible.

• Web-based and interactive: No installation necessary, can be used directly in the browser.
• Modular structure: Users can configure scenarios, display maps and diagrams.
• Live optimization: Energy system model calculates scenarios in real time.
• Data integration: Regional and national data were integrated and visualized.
• Open source: Source code and data are publicly available.

What are the examples of use?

• Planning of wind and PV areas: Display of priority areas, exclusion criteria and potential areas.
• Municipal decision-making: Support for city council meetings or participation procedures.
• Comparison of scenarios: Evaluation of regional contributions to state and federal targets.
• Discussion of Justice: Presentation of Different Distribution Scenarios and Spaces of Consensus.

How can the EmPowerPlan tool be used?

• Online access: https://epp.rl-institut.de
• Open Source & Open Data: Further development and adaptation by third parties possible, implementation in Python
• Surce code app: https://github.com/empowerplan/epp-app/
• Source code data pipeline: https://github.com/rl-institut/apipe/
• Regional adaptation: For new regions, data needs to be integrated and the tool adapted.
• Multipliers recommended: Climate protection managers can act as mediators.