In the domain of power systems studies, simulators are omnipresent at many time and spatial scales. The ambition of the Antares software developed by RTE is to enhance the toolbox that experts in power system development can use in the course of studies characterized by:
- The intricacy of technical concepts and economic data
- The necessity to model generation and transmission assets on an equal footing
- The need to monitor the system’s activity throughout a long period of time (a year) with a high resolution (one hour)
- A horizon remote enough to make many parameters little or not at all predictable (stochastic conditions)
Being able to work efficiently at the confluence of these contigencies is getting to be the key-stone for a sensible approach of many issues of strategic importance in the next decades: the fast development of renewable intermittent generation, the blooming of smart grids initiatives, the exploration of the potentialities open by power-to-gas and other storage technologies, etc. In all these matters closely related to the larger issues of energy transition policies, power system development experts need to have simple tools that help delineate quickly and clearly the contours of the proposals they are in charge to make to decision-makers.