First feedback: Installation problems

[jnnr]

In this issue on oemof/organisation and on the last dev meeting in Berlin we discussed and decided that we want to start developing a repo for district heating models as a joint effort within the oemof-community.

This repo should therefore move to oemof to provide a structure to start with. It provides a central class ThermalNetwork that allows to import data in a defined format. Available components and their required and default attributes are defined (in components.csv and component_attrs). The network data is stored as pandas DataFrames. The ThermalNetwork allows to do a self-consistency check. The whole setup draws some ideas from pypsa.

To get you onboard, have a look at the repo (and open issues if you find things that are worth discussing). To get started, do the following:

• clone the repo to your computer
• install dhnx with pip install -e .
• run the tests
• run the examples
  • importing, exporting, plotting
  • importing network data from osm
  • optimize a network (not implemented yet)
  • simulate a network (there is a branch for that 'features/tespy-simulation', and a draft PR Features/tespy simulation #20)
• have a look at the docs (build them with sphinx-build docs
• have a look at the module and class structure. The modules optimization.py and simulation.py will hold the implementation of the different models.

@jakob-wo @joroeder @MaGering

[jakob-wo]

Hi,

This looks pretty impressiv already!

I looked into it and this is my feedback so far:

1. The installation takes some time (and patience) with all the required packages.
2. Tests and examples are working.
3. I did not manage to install package Cartopy therefore the plots are missing the background maps:

ERROR: Could not build wheels for cartopy which use PEP 517 and cannot be installed directly

4. Docu could be build with sphinx but still needs some content ;)
   I think it would be great to have "get started"-tutorial to demonstrate a typical workflow.

@jnnr is there some specific aspect we should have a look at or test?

[jnnr]

Thanks for the feedback!

Until now, the functionality is centered around reading data in the specified format, checking for required parameters, setting default parameters and finally getting a consistent ThermalNetwork object with components, component_attrs and sequences. There are some tests, but I am sure there are cases that are not tested yet. You could play around a bit yourself and try to break something? :) Issues and failing tests are welcome.

Also, you can have a look at the data format and the specifications of the components, which are contained in the dhnx/components.csv and dhnx/component_attrs (they are also shown in the docs). Maybe you find some attributes that are missing?

Beyond that, there will be actual models coming soon, and examples (optimization and simulation).

[jnnr]

1. The installation takes some time (and patience) with all the required packages.

How long does it take? More than a minute? Is that because of cartopy?

[jakob-wo]

How long does it take? More than a minute? Is that because of cartopy?

yes, I would say more than a minute.
On one hand I spend some time on installing each required package one by one (using pip install). I was running the examples, waited for the "missing module message", and installed the correspoding package. A requiremnt.txt file will make this more convenient I guess.
On the other hand I could not install geopanda via pip but got error massages. So I looked up alternatives on the geopandas docu page and found a way that worked for me*. And then cartopy that does not seem to be crucial but eats a lot of time if you keep trying to fix that problem.
My resumee: we sould provide an explanation or a helpful link on how to install geopandas and cartopy (if it was not just me who struggled with both of them)

*This worked for me: conda install --channel conda-forge geopandas

@jnnr what version of Python and cartopy are you using

[jakob-wo]

You could [...] try to break something

With pleasure! ;)

[jnnr]

On one hand I spend some time on installing each required package one by one (using pip install). I was running the examples, waited for the "missing module message", and installed the correspoding package. A requiremnt.txt file will make this more convenient I guess.

The requirements are written in the setup.py. Did you install it with pip install -e <path-toDHNx>? This should install all necessary dependencies.

On the other hand I could not install geopanda via pip but got error massages. So I looked up alternatives on the geopandas docu page and found a way that worked for me*.

Good to know. What did the error messages say? I consider geopandas quite helpful and would count it to the requirements.

And then cartopy that does not seem to be crucial but eats a lot of time if you keep trying to fix that problem.

That's why cartopy is part of extras_require. Still we can find a way to replace it or to make installation easier.

@jnnr what version of Python and cartopy are you using

Atm python 3.66 and cartopy 0.17.0.