The preparation process of the PyPSA-Eur energy system model consists of a group of ``snakemake`` rules which are briefly outlined and explained in detail in the sections below:
-``build_shapes`` generates GeoJSON files with shapes of the countries, exclusive economic zones and `NUTS3 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomenclature_of_Territorial_Units_for_Statistics>`_ areas.
-``build_cutout`` prepares smaller weather data portions from `ERA5 <https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/reanalysis-datasets/era5>`_ for cutout ``europe-2013-era5`` and SARAH for cutout ``europe-2013-sarah``.
With these and the externally extracted ENTSO-E online map topology (``data/entsoegridkit``), it can build a base PyPSA network with the following rules:
-``base_network`` builds and stores the base network with all buses, HVAC lines and HVDC links, while
-``build_bus_regions`` determines `Voronoi cells <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voronoi_diagram>`_ for all substations.
Then the process continues by calculating conventional power plant capacities, potentials, and per-unit availability time series for variable renewable energy carriers and hydro power plants with the following rules:
-``build_powerplants`` for today's thermal power plant capacities using `powerplantmatching <https://github.com/FRESNA/powerplantmatching>`_ allocating these to the closest substation for each powerplant,
-``build_renewable_potentials`` for the installation potentials for solar panels, onshore and offshore wind turbines constrained by landuse restrictions and natural protection areas,
-``build_renewable_profiles`` for the hourly capacity factors in each substation's Voronoi cell for PV, onshore and offshore wind, and
-``build_hydro_profile`` for the hourly per-unit hydro power availability time series.
