Introduction
Simply put, a scenario on Tensor Cloud is a set of assumptions about the future, and each assumption is a set of values over time. This is largely similar to how you would make assumptions about things like future electricity prices or yearly inflation rates when creating a techno-economic model of your asset or portfolio in Excel.
However, there are a number of key advantages that Tensor Cloud provides over the traditional way of modeling your assumptions on a spreadsheet:
- Scale: Any scenario can easily be applied to hundreds or thousands of assets at once and any changes to the scenario and its underlying assumptions will be immediately reflected in the financial and technical outcomes of all assets that use the scenario.
- Flexibility: In a scenario, you can effortlessly switch out one assumption with a different one, including with assumptions made by third parties (e.g., price forecasts created by think tanks or government organizations).
- Granularity: For some assumptions such as electricity prices, Tensor Cloud will automatically do the heavy lifting of calculating at 30-minute resolution for you, without you having to fill in thousands of cells like you would have to in a spreadsheet. Instead, the only thing needed from you are average prices and spreads for one or several years over the lifetime of your asset portfolio.
Scenarios Overview page
Clicking Scenarios under Planning in the main side navigation takes you to the scenarios overview page. Here you can see all scenarios in your workspace at a glance.
Clicking the three-dot menu on the right of any scenario in the list and selecting edit takes you to its settings. You can add new scenarios by clicking on the Add new button on the top right.
The Tensor Baseline Scenario
When you create a new workspace on Tensor Cloud, it will come with a default baseline scenario that will automatically be applied to all new assets you add to your portfolio.
The Tensor baseline scenario is based on sensible, conservative default assumptions. It strongly relies on two important third-party datasets:
- The cabinet office forecast for inflation until 2026
- The METI Grid Working Group's long-term forecast of curtailment in each grid area
Make sure to read our detailed overview of all scenario settings.
We strongly advise to create a new scenario that reflects your and your investors' assumptions about future macro- and energy-economic developments and to not rely on the Tensor baseline scenario for any critical decision-making.