Organisation : IAEA
International Atomic Energy Agency
P.O. Box 100
Wagramerstrasse 5
A-1400 Vienna, Austria
Contact Person : Mr. Florin Vladu
Tel: (43-1) 2360/2779
Fax: (43-1) 234564
DECPAC is an integrated package for complete electricity system analysis and expansion planning. It provides a screening tool for comparative assessment of economic and environmental aspects of different electricity generation options and strategies, at the power plant, energy chain and electricity system levels. The average running time for a typical expansion planning study is of some 20 minutes on a 486 PC.
DECPAC is linked with a reference or country specific technology inventory data base (RTDB or CSDB) providing technical and economic characteristics, and emission coefficients for technologies used at the different levels of energy chains for electricity generation. Electricity demand projections, load characteristics and case specific data such as time horizon, primary energy prices, discount rate, have to be provided by the user. The graphical user interface provides screens/tables to be filled in by the user upon starting a study.
User defined, local, regional and national possible.
User defined, up to 30 years.
Electricity system expansion planning, taking into account environmental aspects; cost effectiveness analysis of emission reduction measures;
comparative assessment of electricity generation options/chains and strategies/systems.
Macroeconomic analysis
Not included.
Total energy system analysisOptional in the Primary Energy Supply Analysis Module.
Demand analysis: Optional;
Resource analysis: Optional;
Supply side analysis: Optional;
Supply/demand balance: Optional.
Detailed electric system analysis
Load curve: User provided;
Load characterisation: Conversion of load data into typical load duration curves;
Expansion analysis: Least cost optimisation with constraints.
Environmental Analysis
Air emissions: CO, CO2, SOx, NOx, CH4, NMVOC, dust & particulates;
Water emissions: Not included in Phase 1;
Solid wastes: Accounting of all solid waste streams;
Land use: Accounting of total electricity system requirement;
Ocupational health and safety: Not included in Phase 1.
Decision support analysis: Not in Phase 1.
Flexibility
A preliminary/screening expansion planning study can be carried out rapidly with minimum user's intervention. More sophisticated and comprehensive analysis can be carried out with additional data input.
Future development
Enhancement of the Environmental Analysis Module, e.g., including heavy metals and water pollution;
Addition of a Decision Aiding Module;
Enhancement of the Graphical User Interface.
User friendliness
Icon-driven Graphical User Interface for inputting data and displaying results.
Documentation
User's manual in English Language, detailed technical documentation available.
Training
1-2 weeks for senior energy/electricity system planners/decision makers;
International workshops and training courses provided at no cost by IAEA; regional/national training courses upon request.
Hardware
IBM PC 486 or compatible;
16 MB RAM, 80 MB hard drive;
VGA graphic card.
Software
DOS 3.1 or higher;
Microsoft Windows 3.1 or higher.
DECADES Project, Working Paper No. 1, Project Outline, IAEA, Vienna, 1993.
DECADES Project, Working Paper No. 2, DECADES Software Package DECPAC, IAEA, Vienna, 1993.
DECADES Project, Working Paper No. 3, Reference Technology Data Base/RTDB - Scope and Contents, IAEA, Vienna, 1993.
DECADES Project, Working Paper No. 4, Reference Technology Data Base/RTDB - Computer Structure, IAEA, Vienna, 1993.
DECADES Project, Working Paper No. 7, DECADES Phase 1 Design and Function, IAEA, Vienna, 1993.