Scenario Builder unlocks long-term grid planning for island nation leaders

Summary

TransitionZero’s Matthew Gray and Abhishek Shivakumar demonstrated Scenario Builder at a Blue Planet Alliance-hosted event for government officials across small island developing states (SIDS).

This free, no-code tool enabled government ministers, utility operators, and energy analysts to create and run complex energy system models in their web browser — no consultants required.

The hands-on workshop sparked widespread interest from countries seeking to adopt Scenario Builder for planning, benchmarking, and updating Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)

Problem

Small island nations face steep barriers to effective energy system planning. With limited resources, they rely on expensive international consultants to deliver capacity expansion models that are rarely transferable, often outdated, and difficult to contextualise locally. Non-technical stakeholders — from ministers to development partners — are often excluded from modelling processes that directly impact investment decisions. Existing tools like LEAP and PLEXOS, while powerful, are typically inaccessible to policymakers due to their complexity and licensing requirements. Decision-makers often have to rely on consultancies, which can be both expensive and slow.

At the event hosted by the Blue Planet Alliance, TransitionZero was invited to demonstrate a radically different approach: Scenario Builder, a free, user-friendly tool designed to democratize energy planning and align diverse stakeholders, from grid operators to financiers.

Islands are the most affected by the destructive effects of the climate crisis. They also pay the highest price for fossil-fuel-based electricity. Transitioning to 100% renewable energy is the answer.

Henk Rogers

Founder, Blue Planet Alliance

TransitionZero’s Co-head of Modelling, Abhishek Shivakumar, walks delegates through the fundamentals of energy system modelling

Product

Scenario Builder is a no-code, browser-based energy modelling tool designed for accessibility, speed, and transparency. During the live demonstration, senior government officials, including several energy ministers, successfully ran capacity expansion models themselves, many for the first time.

The Scenario Builder workspace

Participants praised Scenario Builder’s intuitive interface and practical design. In contrast to the months-long consulting cycles they were used to, participants created working models in under 15 minutes. The tool’s visual outputs, scenario comparison features, and private account options made it especially attractive for those concerned with data sovereignty and decision-making transparency.

Scenario Builder is an easy to use tool. Most importantly it has the potential to assess the positive and negative aspects of mitigation interventions which will help us to make informed decisions. It could be a helpful tool in planning mitigation efforts for countries NDCs, including for the Maldives.

Ali Shareef

Special Envoy for Climate Change, The Presidents Office, Maldives

A workshop participant creates a new scenario using Scenario Builder’s no-code UI

Looking ahead

TransitionZero’s Scenario Builder is now on track to support a growing number of small island nations, from the Maldives and Samoa to Barbados and the British Virgin Islands, in planning their energy futures. Letters of support and onboarding requests have been initiated, with users eager to integrate the platform into national policy cycles, capacity planning, and investment proposal development.

To meet this demand, TransitionZero is developing a 1-hour onboarding training to take users from zero to their first model, ensuring governments can use the tool independently and effectively.

Regional partnerships, including with the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation and UNDESA, are being explored to support rollout and training.

Scenario Builder’s no-code approach is a technical breakthrough, but more importantly, it represents a shift in who gets to participate in energy planning.