The representation of empirical analyses of actor behavior in (techno-economic) energy system models is often difficult in practice. Due to their concentration on macroscopic phenomena or due to their model size, general energy system models often have a structure that does not provide for the representation of small-scale, microscopic actor structures (e.g. economic sectors as the smallest units of analysis).
By developing actor models and coupling them with techno-economic energy system models, the latter shall be enabled to take into account the results of quantitative and qualitative empirical analyses (e.g. questionnaire studies, conjoint analyses, qualitative interviews, etc.) on the behavior of actors (e.g. citizens, companies, non-governmental organizations, etc.) better and, above all, with less methodological effort.
More information about the project can be found here.
Cluster of Excellence Integrated Energy Systems