System settings

These tags live in SysSettings.xlsx and define the frame of the model: time, regions, timeslices, currencies and units. Except for ~TimeSlices, they are accepted only in SysSettings.

Time

~StartYear

Single-value tag: the cell below holds the first year of the model (the base year).

~TimePeriods

Period lengths, by named definition. Each column is one definition; its header is the definition's name, and the cells below are the lengths of successive periods, starting from ~StartYear.

~TimePeriods
Pdef-1	Pdef-5	Pdef-11
1	1	1
2	2	2
	5	5
	5	5

Veda computes the milestone year of each period as its middle year. Several definitions can coexist; the Run Manager chooses one per case. A column headed <- ending year is a note and is ignored.

~ActivePDef

Single-value tag: the name of the period definition (a column of ~TimePeriods or ~MileStoneYears) that is active by default.

~MileStoneYears

An alternative to ~TimePeriods: each column is a definition that lists the milestone years directly. TIMES derives the period boundaries from them. A row whose type cell starts with e gives the end year of the horizon instead of a milestone year.

~EndYear

Single-value tag: the last year of the model horizon.

~DefaultYear

Single-value tag: the year given to any value whose year is left empty. Without it, the start year is used.

Regions

~BookRegions_Map

Declares the model's regions and groups them into books. Columns BookName and Region; an empty BookName cell carries down the book above it.

~BookRegions_Map
BookName	Region
ElecReg	NSW
	VIC
DemReg	NSW_N
	NSW_S

A book is the region scope of a set of base-year templates: a VT_ElecReg_ELC_v01.xlsx workbook describes the regions of book ElecReg, and every declaration in it that has no region applies to all of them. This serves the principle that structures common to several regions are declared once.

• A book with no VT_<book>_… workbook makes its regions external (exogenous) regions.
• A region listed twice in one table keeps its last row.
• The external regions IMPEXP and MINRNW are always added.

~RegionGroup_Map

Defines region groups: names that stand for several regions. Columns RegionGroup (aliases region_group, reg_group) and Region. A region may belong to several groups.

~RegionGroup_Map
RegionGroup	Region
weo_EU	France
weo_EU	Germany
Reg_Dev	France
Reg_Dev	Germany
Reg_Dev	USA

A group name can be used wherever a region is expected: in a region column (alone or in a comma list), as a value-column header, and in tag text (~TFM_INS-TS: Region=Reg_Dev). Veda replaces it by its regions, and the result is the same as writing the regions out.

So data available for external classifications (WEO regions, steel regions, development status) can be used as it is, one row per group. To give one region a different value, add a row for that region below the group row: as with any two rows in a layer, the later row wins.

Tip

Use a prefix per grouping scheme (weo_, Reg_) and do not mix schemes in one table: rows of two schemes that cover the same region overwrite each other, and the result then depends on row order.

~RegionGroup_Map is also used in report definitions, and region groups are accepted in the column headers of ~TFM_FILL-R data sheets and in ~UC_T and ~UC_Sets. ~TFM_TOPDINS is the exception: it does not expand region groups.

Timeslices

~TimeSlices

The timeslice tree. Columns Season, Weekly and DayNite, each listing the elements of that level. Every element of a level is combined with every element of the level above; a timeslice's name is the concatenation of its parts (S + D → SD).

~TimeSlices
Season	Weekly	DayNite
S		D
W		N

This gives the seasons S and W and the timeslices SD, SN, WD, WN. Leave a level's column empty to skip that level.

~TimeSlices is also accepted in regular scenario files and generated parametric files, so a layer can change the temporal resolution. The tag text may list the regions the tree applies to; otherwise it applies to all regions. These region names must be written exactly as declared — matching is case-sensitive, and region groups are not accepted here. The share of the year of each timeslice is a normal attribute, YRFR, given with ~TFM_INS or ~TFM_DINS.

Currencies and units

~Currencies

The currencies used in the model, in a Currency column. The first one is the model's default currency: every cost without an explicit currency is read in it (always put the currency on cost tables).

~DefUnits

Default units of process activity, process capacity and commodities, by sector. Rows Process_ActUnit, Process_CapUnit, Commodity_Unit in the Option column; one column per sector, matched to the sector part of the VT_<book>_<sector> file name.

~DefUnits
Option	ELC	IND	TRA
Process_ActUnit	PJ	PJ	kPk
Process_CapUnit	GW	GW	000_Units
Commodity_Unit	PJ	PJ	kPk

A unit cell left empty in ~FI_Process or ~FI_Comm takes the default of its sector.

~UnitConversion

Conversion factors between units, used when browsing results and in reports: columns from_unit, to_unit, multiplier.

Other settings tags

~NOpCol

"No-operation columns". Header names listed in the name column are ignored in every table of the model, and the warnings for them are suppressed. A name is still read in a tag where it is a known column (details). Useful for annotation columns (source, notes) and for switching columns off by formula in parametric files.

~ParentRegions_Map

Maps sub-regions to parent regions for reporting: columns parent_region and sub_region (a comma list is allowed). Used by ~TS_Ratios in report definitions.

~MD_Dimensions

The metadata fields captured by the ~MD-* tags (Metadata).

Modification tables in SysSettings

SysSettings is a layer present in every case. Besides the settings tags, it accepts ~FI_Comm, ~TFM_COMGRP, ~TFM_INS-TXT, the insert, update and migrate tags, ~TFM_FILL-R, and the user-constraint tags. It is processed last, after all other layers, so rules placed here can act on everything. Typical uses: model-wide constants (G_DYEAR, Discount, YRFR), default interpolation options (a ~TFM_MIG or ~TFM_INS row writing year 0), and commodity groups.