Data Sources

PyPSA-Eur is compiled from a variety of data sources. The following table provides an overview of the data sources used in PyPSA-Eur. Different licenses apply to the data sources.

Data Versioning

Many of the data sources used in PyPSA-Eur are updated regularly. To ensure reproducibility, PyPSA-Eur uses a versioning system for data sources which allows users to select specific versions of the data sources to use in their models. Next to the versioning and if the license allows, most datasets are also mirrored to a public file storage for the repository under https://data.pypsa.org.

Note

For users, selection and control over which data sources to use is managed through the configuration file. See Data Configuration for details. In most cases you just wanna stick with the latest archive version. Reproducibility is given even when using the latest tag via the versions.csv, which is version controlled.

Understanding versions.csv

The file data/versions.csv is the central registry for all data sources and their versions. Each row defines a specific version of a dataset with the following columns:

• dataset: The name of the dataset (e.g., worldbank_urban_population).
• version: The version identifier, typically following the original data source's versioning (e.g., 2025-08-14).
• source: The source type - primary (original data source), archive (mirrored copy on data.pypsa.org), or build (generated from other data).
• tags: Space-separated tags like latest, supported or deprecated.
• added: The date when this entry was added to the registry.
• note: Optional notes about the dataset or version.
• url: The download URL for the data.

Entries to the versions.csv are never deleted and if a dataset was removed or is not available, the entry is marked as deprecated.

Note

For primary sources, each combination of dataset and version should point to a specific version of that dataset with a unique URL. If the original data source does not provide versioned URLs (i.e., the URL always points to the latest data), the version is set to unknown. In this case, the corresponding archive entries do not mirror the same version but represent snapshots taken at specific points in time from that primary source.

Adding a new version of a dataset

If you notice that a data source has been updated and want to add the new version to PyPSA-Eur:

1. Add a new row to data/versions.csv with the same dataset name, the new version, source set to primary, and the url pointing to the original data source.
2. Set appropriate tags (typically latest supported).
3. Update the tags of the previous version (remove latest, keep supported if still compatible).
4. Create a pull request with your changes.
5. Of course, any potential workflow adjustments should be considered and implemented as well.

Note

If the primary source has version set to unknown (i.e., the URL always points to the latest data) and a new version is available that has not been archived yet, please open an issue on the PyPSA-Eur GitHub repository to request an archive update.

Adding a new dataset

To add a completely new data source to PyPSA-Eur:

1. Add a primary entry to data/versions.csv with a new unique dataset name, version, and URL pointing to the original data source.
2. Implement a retrieve rule for your dataset in rules/retrieve.smk. Take inspiration from existing rules in the file.

3. Add the new data source to:

4. data section in the pydantic schema scripts/lib/validation/config/data.py

5. data_inventory.csv data inventory for PyPSA-Eur

6. Create a pull request with your changes.

Note

Maintainers of the repository will create the corresponding archive entry after reviewing your contribution.

Data inventory

Short name	Long name	Description	Owner	Link to website	License
enspreso_biomass	ENSPRESO biomass potentials for Europe	This collection contains datasets from ENSPRESO2, an EU-28 wide, open dataset on renewable energy potentials, at national (NUTS0), regional and high-resolution (1 x 1 km and 5 x 5 km) levels for the 2010-2050 period. Within ENSPRESO, ENergy Systems Potential Renewable Energy SOurces, and the ENSPRESO2 updates, technical potentials are provided for wind, solar and biomass, based on coherent GIS-based land-restriction scenarios. [...] For biomass, agriculture, forestry and waste sectors are considered. The temporal resolution for wind and solar is both annual.	European Commission Joint Research Centre	https://data.jrc.ec.europa.eu/dataset/74ed5a04-7d74-4807-9eab-b94774309d9f	CC-BY-4.0
osm	Open Street Map electricity transmission grid	Transmission grid topology and infrastructure on substations, lines and cables from Open Street Map (OSM). The dataset is built from OSM data and is not versioned. The latest dataset can be built using the scripts in the repository.	Open Street Map contributors	https://www.openstreetmap.org/ and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12799201	ODbL-1.0
worldbank_urban_population	Urban population (% of total population)	Percentage of Urban population by country, United Nations Population Division. World Urbanization Prospects: 2018 Revision.	World Bank	https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS	CC-BY-4.0
worldbank_commodity_prices	World Bank Commodity Prices	Monthly commodity price data for a range of commodities including fossil fuels	World Bank	https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/18675f1d1639c7a34d463f59263ba0a2-0050012025/related/CMO-Historical-Data-Monthly.xlsx	CC-BY-4.0
hotmaps_industrial_sites	Hotmaps industrial sites	In this repository are over 5000 georeferenced industrial sites of energy-intensive industry sectors published, together with GHG-emissions, production capacity, fuel demand and excess heat potentials calculated from emission and production data.	nan	https://gitlab.com/hotmaps/industrial_sites/industrial_sites_Industrial_Database/	CC-BY-4.0
instrat_co2_prices	CO2 Emission Allowance Prices	CO2 emission allowance prices from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), retrieved from the Instrat energy price API.	Instrat	https://energy.instrat.pl/	unknown
co2stop	CO2 Storage Potentials	An assessment of the CO2 storage potential in Europe, including storage units, traps, and maps.	European Commission Joint Research Centre	https://setis.ec.europa.eu/european-co2-storage-database_en	Reuse policy following 2011/833/EU
nitrogen_statistics	Nitrogen Statistics and Information	Statistics and information on the worldwide supply of, demand for, and flow of the mineral commodity nitrogen.	United States Geological Survey (USGS)	https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nmic/nitrogen-statistics-and-information	Public Domain
eu_nuts2013	Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) 2013 - shapefiles	Shapefiles of EU's Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) 2013, which is a hierarchical system for dividing up the economic territory of the European Union.	eurostat	https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/nuts/overview	Reuse policy following 2011/833/EU
eu_nuts2021	Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) 2021 - shapefiles	Shapefiles of EU's Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) 2021, which is a hierarchical system for dividing up the economic territory of the European Union.	eurostat	https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/nuts/overview	Reuse policy following 2011/833/EU
eurostat_balances	Energy Balances	European energy balances by country and fuel, as reported by Eurostat.	eurostat	https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database	CC-BY-4.0
eurostat_household_balances	Eurostat Household Energy Balances	Disaggregated final energy consumption in household - quantities (nrg_d_hhq)	eurostat	https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/product/page/NRG_D_HHQ	CC-BY-4.0
luisa_land_cover	The LUISA base map 2018	The LUISA Base Map 2018 is a high-resolution land use/land cover map developed and produced by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission	European Commission Joint Research Centre	https://data.jrc.ec.europa.eu/dataset/51858b51-8f27-4006-bf82-53eba35a142c	CC-BY-4.0
jrc_idees	JRC-IDEES-2023	The JRC-IDEES-2023 release contains a consistent set of disaggregated energy-economy-emissions data for each Member State of the European Union, covering all sectors of the energy system for the 2000-2021 period: industry, buildings, transport, and power generation.	"European Commission Joint Research Centre"	"https://data.jrc.ec.europa.eu/dataset/82322924-506a-4c9a-8532-2bdd30d69bf5"	"CC-BY-4.0"
scigrid_gas	nan	Scientific Grid Model of European Gas Transmission Networks,Gas transmission data model	DLR Institute for Networked Energy Systems	https://web.archive.org/web/20241112092853/https://www.gas.scigrid.de/	"CC-BY-4.0"
synthetic_electricity_demand	nan	Interannual Electricity Demand Calculator,generates country-level electricity consumption time series based on weather data and correlates historical electricity demand to temperature	nan	https://zenodo.org/records/10820928	"CC-BY-4.0"
opsd_electricity_demand	Open Power System Data - Electricity Demand	Time series data of electricity consumption at country-level for various European countries.	Open Power System Data	https://data.open-power-system-data.org/time_series/	unknown
entsoe_electricity_demand	ENTSO-E Transparency Platform - Electricity Demand	Time series data of electricity consumption at country-level for various European countries.	ENTSO-E	https://transparency.entsoe.eu/load/total/dayAhead	unknown
neso_electricity_demand	NESO Electricity Demand Data	Time series data of electricity consumption for Great Britain.	National Energy System Operator (NESO)	https://www.neso.energy/data-portal/historic-demand-data	NESO Open Data License v1.0 <https://www.neso.energy/data-portal/neso-open-licence>__
copernicus_land_cover	Copernicus Global Land Service	"Land cover and land use inventory of European continent"	Copernicus	https://land.copernicus.eu/en/products/global-dynamic-land-cover	"CC-BY-4.0"
ship_raster	Global Shipping Traffic Density	To build ship density raster and use it further to compute availability matrix for renewables	Worldbank	https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0037580/Global-Shipping-Traffic-Density	"CC-BY-4.0"
eez	Maritime Boundaries World EEZ	To estimate potentials for offshore wind in country's EEZ	Marine Regions	https://www.marineregions.org/downloads.php	"CC-BY-4.0"
nuts3_population	Population by NUTS3 region	Average annual population to calculate regional GDP data (thousand persons) by NUTS 3 region (nama_10r_3popgdp)	Eurostat	https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/bulk?lang=en&searchFilter=nama_10r_3pop	"CC-BY-4.0"
gdp_per_capita	Gridded global datasets for Gross Domestic Product over 1990–2015	Gross Domestic Product per capita (PPP)	Kummu, M et al.	https://www.nature.com/articles/sdata20184	CC-BY-4.0
population_count	World - Population Counts	Spatial distribution of population	WorldPop	https://data.humdata.org/dataset/worldpop-population-counts-for-world https://hub.worldpop.org/doi/10.5258/SOTON/WP00647	CC-BY-4.0
ghg_emissions	Total GHG emissions and removals in the EU	National emissions reported to the UNFCCC and to the EU under the Governance Regulation	European Environment Agency	https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/datahub/datahubitem-view/3b7fe76c-524a-439a-bfd2-a6e4046302a2?activeAccordion=1095700%2C1095998%2C1085929%2C1084352%2C1084914	CC-BY-4.0
gebco	General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans	Gridded Bathymetric data for ocean and land, providing elevation data in meters, on a 15 arc-second interval grid.	GEBCO Comilation Group	https://www.gebco.net/data-products/gridded-bathymetry-data	Public domain
attributed_ports	Global - International Ports	International ports with attributes describing name, port functions, total capacity and location	World bank Group	https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0038118/Global---International-Ports	"CC-BY-4.0"
corine	CORINE Land Cover 2012	Pan European Land cover for 44 thematic classes with 2012 as reference year	Copernicus	https://land.copernicus.eu/en/products/corine-land-cover/clc-2012	Custom similar to CC-BY
emobility	nan	Motor and passenger vehicles count	Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt)	https://www.bast.de/DE/Home/home_node.html	CC-BY-4.0
h2_salt_caverns	Technical potential of salt caverns for Hydrogen Storage in Europe	Salt cavern potentials in GWh/sqkm	"Dilara et al"	"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360319919347299?via%3Dihub"	CC-BY-4.0
lau_regions	Local Administrative Units	Used for local administration regions when building geothermal potentials	Eurostat	https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/gisco/geodata/administrative-units	Permission to download only if used for non-commercial purposes
aquifer_data	International Hydrogeological Map of Europe	Groundwater data	BGR	https://geoportal.bgr.de/mapapps/resources/apps/geoportal/index.html?lang=en#/datasets/portal/341255A9-180F-4BF9-B96F-D085339EA86D	Right to use without restriction but no right to redistribute
osm_boundaries	OSM Boundaries	OSM-Boundaries was created to enable users to easily extract boundaries such as country borders, state borders, and equivalents from the OpenStreetMap databases	Ground Zero Communications AB	https://osm-boundaries.com/about	ODbL
gem_europe_gas_tracker	Europe Gas Tracker	Methane and hydrogen infrastructure in Europe, including pipelines, LNG terminals, gas power plants and extraction sites.	Global Energy Monitor	https://globalenergymonitor.org/projects/europe-gas-tracker/	CC-BY-4.0
gem_gspt	Global Steel Plant Tracker	Steel plant global locations and characteristics, including production capacity, ownership, and emissions data.	Global Energy Monitor	https://globalenergymonitor.org/projects/global-steel-plant-tracker/	CC-BY-4.0
gem_gcct	Global Cement and Concrete Tracker	Cement and concrete plant global locations and characteristics, including production capacity, ownership, and emissions data.	Global Energy Monitor	https://globalenergymonitor.org/projects/global-cement-and-concrete-tracker/	CC-BY-4.0
tyndp	Ten Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) electricity transmission grid	Transmission grid topology based on the ENTSO-E/ENTSO-G TYNDP scenarios, including planned and existing lines.	ENTSO-E/ENTSO-G	https://2024.entsos-tyndp-scenarios.eu/download/	CC-BY-4.0
powerplants	Power plants matching dataset	Global dataset of power plants with their location, capacity and technology type.	The powerplantmatching contributors	https://powerplantmatching.readthedocs.io	CC-BY-4.0
costs	Technology cost assumptions	Technology cost and performance assumptions for Europe for various technologies, including renewables, fossil fuels.	The technologydata contributors	https://technology-data.readthedocs.io	CC-BY-4.0
country_runoff	Country level runoff data	Country-level runoff data, daily sums, for Europe, used for rescaling hydro-electricity availability in weather years not covered by EIA hydro-generation statistics.	Fabian Neumann	see rule retrieve_country_runoff in the PyPSA-Eur repository	CC-BY-4.0
country_hdd	Country level runoff data	Country-level heating degree days for Europe, used for rescaling heat demand in weather years not covered by energy statistics.	Fabian Neumann	see rule retrieve_country_runoff in the PyPSA-Eur repository	CC-BY-4.0
natura	Natura 2000 protected areas	Protected areas in Europe as defined by the Natura 2000 network.	European Environment Agency	https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/datahub/datahubitem-view/6fc8ad2d-195d-40f4-bdec-576e7d1268e4	CC-BY-4.0
bfs_road_vehicle_stock	Swiss Road Vehicle Stock	Stock of road motor vehicles in Switzerland.	Swiss Federal Statistics Office	https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/kataloge-datenbanken.assetdetail.33827666.html	custom (OPEN BY ASK)
bfs_gdp_and_population	Swiss Population	Population data for Switzerland.	Swiss Federal Statistics Office	https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/news/whats-new.assetdetail.7786557.html	custom (OPEN BY ASK)
swiss_energy_balances	Swiss Energy Balances	Energy balances for Switzerland.	Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE)	https://pubdb.bfe.admin.ch/de/publication/download/12361	custom (https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/rechtliches.html)
mobility_profiles	German Vehicle Activity Profiles	Vehicle activity profiles for different vehicle types and road types in Germany, based on monitoring data from the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt). These profiles provide insights into travel behavior and patterns, which can be used for transport modeling and analysis.	Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt)	https://www.bast.de/DE/Themen/Digitales/HF_1/Massnahmen/verkehrszaehlung/Stundenwerte.html?nn=414410	CC-BY-4.0
dh_areas	nan	Shapes of district heating areas	ISI Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung	https://fordatis.fraunhofer.de/handle/fordatis/341.5	CC-BY-4.0
geothermal_heat_utilisation_potentials	nan	Potentials for Geothermal heat utilisation	ISI Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung	https://fordatis.fraunhofer.de/handle/fordatis/341.5	CC-BY-4.0
jrc_ardeco	Annual Regional Database of the European Commission's Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy	The database contains a set of long time-series variables and indicators for EU regions, as well as for regions in some EFTA and candidate countries, at various statistical scales (NUTS1, NUTS2, NUTS3, metro regions).	European Commission	https://territorial.ec.europa.eu/ardeco	similar to CC-BY
jrc_energy_atlas	JRC Energy Atlas	Contains 1km by 1km raster data of annual electricity demand per EU country	European Commission Joint Research Centre	https://energy-industry-geolab.jrc.ec.europa.eu/energy-atlas/	CC-BY-4.0 <https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc-opendata/EIGL-Data/RASTER/copyright.txt>__
desnz_electricity_consumption	Regional and local authority electricity consumption statistics	Contains subnational electricity consumption statistics from 2005 to 2023.	UK Government, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/regional-and-local-authority-electricity-consumption-statistics	Open Government Licence v3.0
ons_lad	UK Local Authority Districts May 2024 Boundaries	Contains shapefiles of local authorities in the United Kingdom.	UK Office for National Statistics	https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::local-authority-districts-may-2024-boundaries-uk-bsc-2/about	Open Government Licence v.3.0
bidding_zones_electricitymaps	Electricity Maps Bidding Zones	Geospatial data defining bidding zones for electricity markets in Europe	Electricity Maps	https://github.com/electricitymaps/electricitymaps-contrib	AGPL-3.0
bidding_zones_entsoepy	ENTSOE-PY Bidding Zones	Geospatial data defining bidding zones for electricity markets in Europe	EnergieID	https://github.com/EnergieID/entsoe-py	MIT