Decision support system framework of the PRIMES energy model of the European Commission

PRIMES is a large scale model of the energy systems of European Union member-states linked together through energy markets. The PRIMES software is based on a full-scale decision support system (DSS) framework, which is presented in the paper. The DSS framework of PRIMES intends to support the seamless integration of data management, model running and reporting. The system is based on a common data structure, following an entity-relationship model, shared by all system components, including the DBMS component and the algebraic modelling language. The paper illustrates the design philosophy and operation of the DSS framework of PRIMES which can be applied in a number of policy-analysis cases.