plexosdb 1.6.1

plexosdb

SQLite-backed Python API for reading, building, and writing PLEXOS XML models

plexosdb converts PLEXOS XML input files into an in-memory SQLite database, giving you a fast, typed Python API to query, create, and modify power system models programmatically, then write them back to XML.

Installation

pip install plexosdb

Or with uv:

uv add plexosdb

Python version support: 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, 3.14

Quick Start

from plexosdb import PlexosDB, ClassEnum, CollectionEnum

# Load a PLEXOS XML file into an in-memory SQLite database
db = PlexosDB.from_xml("model.xml")

# Query existing objects
generators = db.get_object_names(ClassEnum.Generator)

# Add new objects
db.add_object(ClassEnum.Generator, name="SolarPV_01", category="Renewables")
db.add_object(ClassEnum.Node, name="Bus_1")

# Create memberships between objects
db.add_membership(
    CollectionEnum.GeneratorNodes,
    parent_class=ClassEnum.Generator,
    parent_name="SolarPV_01",
    child_class=ClassEnum.Node,
    child_name="Bus_1",
)

# Export the modified model back to XML
db.to_xml("modified_model.xml")

Versioned Schema Initialization

When creating a brand-new database (not importing XML), you can preload the matching PLEXOS master template by version:

from plexosdb import PlexosDB

db = PlexosDB()
db.create_schema(version=10)

Supported versions: 9, 10, 11, 12.

Accepted inputs include integers, strings, and tuples. For example:

db.create_schema(version="v11.0R4")
db.create_schema(version=(12, 0, 3))

Read PLEXOS Solution ZIP Tables with pandas

from plexosdb import PlexosSolution
import pandas as pd

PLEXOS_SOLUTION = "/path/to/solution.zip"

sol = PlexosSolution.from_zip(PLEXOS_SOLUTION)
sol.to_sqlite("output.sqlite", if_exists="replace")

table = "ST__Interval__Regions__Fixed_Load"
sol.materialize_table(table, schema="report")
df_table = pd.read_sql_query(f'SELECT * FROM report."{table}"', sol.connection)

This pattern is useful when you only need a few report/data tables from a large solution ZIP, because it materializes tables on demand.

Documentation

Full documentation is available at natlabrockies.github.io/plexosdb.

Related Work

For related previous/current work on querying PLEXOS outputs with DuckDB, see plexos2duckdb.

Developer Setup

plexosdb uses uv for dependency management.

git clone https://github.com/NatLabRockies/plexosdb.git
cd plexosdb
uv sync --all-groups

Install the git hooks so your code is checked before making commits:

uv run prek install

Run the test suite:

uv run pytest

License

This software is released under a BSD-3-Clause License.

This software was developed under software record SWR-24-90 at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Disclaimer

PLEXOS is a registered trademark of Energy Exemplar Pty Ltd. Energy Exemplar Pty Ltd. has no affiliation to or participation in this software. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC ("Alliance"). The views and opinions of authors expressed in the available or referenced documents do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or Alliance.