As the energy sector undergoes unprecedented transformation, this opening round table sets the stage by addressing the core challenges of a successful and secure energy transition. With the growing penetration of renewables, the rise of new energy carriers like hydrogen, and the spread of grid-enhancing technologies, the system’s need for flexibility, resilience and strategic planning has never been greater. But the transition is not just technical—it’s geopolitical. Global supply chains are under pressure, and energy security is increasingly shaped by international alliances and disruptions. This session will bring together PSR experts and invited thought leaders to discuss how energy planning and operations must adapt in this evolving context. The conversation will explore how PSR's modeling capabilities contribute to tackling curtailment, optimizing infrastructure investment, and designing robust systems under uncertainty. By connecting the macro vision of the energy transition with concrete planning challenges, this session will inspire participants for the technical discussions ahead.

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This session offers a brief introduction to PSR and the structure of the User Meeting, followed by the official presentation of the new functionalities released during the event. These developments are part of our ongoing effort to enhance the modeling capabilities and usability of our analytical tools. Participants will be introduced to improvements in user experience — including an updated interface and a new visualization module for geographical and system-level data — and to a new documentation platform designed to facilitate access to modeling concepts, methodologies and tool usage. The session will also cover the most recent updates to our operation and expansion planning tools, SDDP and OptGen, including the new modeling capabilities for energy efficiency, energy supply chains, multi-stage policy constraints and scalable investment input structures. A new tool for optimization of maintenance schedules will also be introduced.

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A well-structured dataset is the foundation of meaningful modeling. In this session, we explore the full lifecycle of dataset development — from raw data gathering and organization to validation, calibration and long-term maintenance. Whether the goal is to build a new dataset for a power system from scratch or to refine and update an existing one, PSR offers a structured methodology supported by tools and services. Drawing from our experience developing detailed datasets for clients across Latin America, Europe and North America, we will demonstrate how to build comprehensive, “fundamentalist” datasets that reflect the physical and operational realities of each system. We will also show how our team works closely with clients to bridge the gap between their internal data environments — such as SCADA systems, market databases or regulatory reports — and the requirements of PSR’s modeling tools. Beyond initial setup, the session will highlight how to implement processes that support consistent updates, scenario generation, testing and result extraction. Tools like PSR Factory play a key role in enabling this automation and ensuring transparency and reproducibility. By the end of the session, participants will have a clear view of how dataset creation and management can become a structured, scalable capability within their organization — and how PSR can support every step of this process.

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To close the first day of the event, we invite participants to engage in hands-on learning experiences with two of PSR’s most powerful tools for automation, analysis, and visualization: PSR Factory and PSRIO. Each mini-course is designed to last 45 minutes and will focus on practical exercises that allow users to interact directly with the tools and understand how they can streamline modeling workflows, support decision-making, and enhance productivity. Whether you're looking to automate database creation and execution workflows or build customized outputs and dashboards from model results, these mini-courses offer a direct and applied introduction to the capabilities of PSR's ecosystem.

The increasing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events — such as droughts, floods, and heat waves — are no longer anomalies. They are structural changes driven by climate change, and they challenge traditional assumptions of stationarity in energy system planning and operation. This session will begin with a conceptual discussion on the urgency of adapting planning models to reflect this new climate reality. We will then present PSR’s methodology for generating future scenarios of renewable resources — such as hydro inflows, wind, and solar — based on global circulation models and advanced deep learning architectures. The methodology integrates multiple forecasting horizons (from day-ahead to multi-decadal), combining ensemble outputs from global climate models with neural networks capable of capturing the probabilistic structure of climate-driven variables. These scenarios are compatible with PSR’s stochastic models such as SDDP and NCP, allowing users to represent uncertainty in both long-term expansion planning and short-term operational scheduling. In particular, long-term climate dynamics can be incorporated using techniques such as Markov chains, enhancing the ability to simulate seasonal and interannual transitions. We will conclude with selected case studies that show how this climate scenario platform has been applied in practice.

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As the energy transition introduces more variability, interdependence and uncertainty into power systems, planning and operational models must evolve in both scope and resolution. In this session, we will discuss how increasing model complexity — including hourly granularity, spatial disaggregation, and additional system interactions — poses new computational challenges, and how PSR’s tools are designed to address them. We will present the architecture of PSR Cloud, which enables high-performance, distributed computing to support large-scale simulations. The session will highlight use cases that benefit from parallel processing and elastic scalability — particularly in SDDP, where parallelization strategies allow for significant reductions in computation time while preserving modeling robustness. A real-world example will illustrate how a leading energy planning institution is using PSR’s tools — in combination with a high-performance cloud environment — to carry out complex expansion and operation studies in a highly constrained and renewable-rich power system. This case exemplifies the ability of PSR Cloud to support intensive simulation workloads involving millions of stochastic optimization problems under tight time constraints. We will also explore how these capabilities are applied in expansion planning studies using OptGen, showcasing how long-term investment decisions can incorporate detailed operational behavior.

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This session presents case studies that illustrate how PSR’s models are being used in practice to support decision-making in energy planning, operation, and markets.

This session offers hands-on training with two PSR tools that support renewable modeling and high-performance simulation workflows. Each mini-course will last 45 minutes and focus on practical exercises to help participants apply the tools in real-world contexts.

As renewable penetration increases and generation becomes more geographically dispersed, transmission systems face new and urgent challenges. Curtailment, congestion, and system inflexibility are becoming structural barriers to efficient and reliable system operation. Planning methodologies must evolve to ensure that the transmission grid supports the energy transition — not limits it. This session presents PSR’s latest functionalities for transmission modeling, enabling more accurate analysis of bottlenecks, system flexibility, and joint generation-transmission expansion. Topics include dynamic line rating (DLR), grid-enhancing technologies (GETs), network losses, new network databases, and contingency evaluation tools. We will also share selected studies that illustrate how these tools are being applied in practice — including an integrated generation and transmission planning study for Colombia, and recent curtailment analyses in Brazil. A guided Q&A will conclude the session.

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Part 1: Where our models are heading

In this session, we share the evolution path of PSR’s modeling ecosystem. Participants will get an inside look at current development priorities, including interface improvements, new modeling capabilities, and smarter ways to handle data and workflows.

Part 2: The future is now — artificial intelligence in energy modeling

In this forward-looking segment, we explore how artificial intelligence is becoming integral to the next generation of energy modeling. From deep learning to reinforcement learning and generative AI, PSR is actively incorporating cutting-edge AI approaches across its tools and research initiatives. This talk will offer a conceptual and practical overview of how AI is already being used — and where it is headed — in planning, operation and policy design for energy systems. We will highlight three key AI paradigms currently shaping our roadmap.

This session aims to spark reflection on how PSR is preparing for — and actively shaping — the AI revolution in the energy sector. The message is clear: the future isn’t coming, it’s already here.

To close the PSR User Meeting 2025, this plenary session offers a broader perspective on how planning, operation and market design must evolve in response to the increasing complexity of energy systems. The talk will reflect on the key messages from the week and propose a vision for how analytical tools can support coordinated, flexible, and robust decision-making across all time horizons.

The session will conclude with the delivery of participation certificates and the announcement of the next PSR User Meeting.

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