Feedstock Models

Feedstock Models#

Feedstock models in H2Integrate represent any resource input that is consumed by technologies in your plant, such as natural gas, water, electricity from the grid, or any other material input. The feedstock modeling approach provides a flexible way to track resource consumption and calculate associated costs for any type of input material or energy source. Please see the example 16_natural_gas in the examples directory for a complete setup using natural gas as a feedstock.

How Feedstock Models Work#

Two-Component Architecture#

Each feedstock type requires two model components:

  1. Performance Model (FeedstockPerformanceModel):

    • Generates the feedstock supply profile

    • Outputs {commodity}_out variable

    • Located at the beginning of the technology chain

  2. Cost Model (FeedstockCostModel):

    • Calculates consumption costs based on actual usage

    • Takes {commodity}_consumed as input

    • Located after all consuming technologies in the chain

Technology Interconnections#

Feedstocks connect to consuming technologies through the technology_interconnections in your plant configuration. The connection pattern is:

technology_interconnections: [
    ["name_of_feedstock_source", "consuming_technology", "commodity", "connection_type"],
]

Where:

  • name_of_feedstock_source: Name of your feedstock source

  • consuming_technology: Technology that uses the feedstock

  • commodity: Type identifier (e.g., “natural_gas”, “water”, “electricity”)

  • connection_type: Name for the connection (e.g., “pipe”, “cable”)

Configuration#

To use the feedstock performance and cost models, add an entry to your tech_config.yaml like this:

ng_feedstock:
    performance_model:
        model: "FeedstockPerformanceModel"
    cost_model:
        model: "FeedstockCostModel"
    model_inputs:
        shared_parameters:
            commodity: "natural_gas"
            commodity_rate_units: "MMBtu/h"
        performance_parameters:
            rated_capacity: 100.
        cost_parameters:
            commodity_amount_units: "MMBtu" # optional, if not specified defaults to `commodity_rate_units*h`
            cost_year: 2023
            price: 4.2 # cost in USD/commodity_amount_units
            annual_cost: 0.
            start_up_cost: 100000.

Performance Model Parameters#

  • commodity (str): Identifier for the feedstock type (e.g., “natural_gas”, “water”, “electricity”)

  • commodity_rate_units (str): commodity_rate_units for feedstock consumption (e.g., “MMBtu/h”, “kg/h”, “galUS/h”, or “MW”)

  • rated_capacity (float): Maximum feedstock supply rate in commodity_rate_units

Cost Model Parameters#

  • commodity (str): Must match the performance model identifier

  • commodity_rate_units (str): Must match the performance model commodity_rate_units

  • price (float, int, or list): Cost per unit in USD/commodity_amount_units. Can be:

    • Scalar: Constant price for all timesteps and years

    • List: Price per timestep

  • annual_cost (float, optional): Fixed cost per year in USD/year. Defaults to 0.0

  • start_up_cost (float, optional): One-time capital cost in USD. Defaults to 0.0

  • cost_year (int): Dollar year for cost inputs

  • commodity_amount_units (str | None, optional): the amount units of the commodity (i.e., “MMBtu”, “kg”, “galUS” or “kW*h”). If None, will be set as commodity_rate_units*h

Tip

The price parameter is flexible - you can specify constant pricing with a single value or time-varying pricing with an array of values matching the number of simulation timesteps.

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