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HOMER

HOMER® Energy Releases Design Software for Hybrid Renewable Power Systems for Microgrids

Boulder, CO (PRWEB) May 13, 2010

HOMER Energy announced the release of HOMER v2.75 today, the first commercial release of the software since it was licensed from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. 

The new version of HOMER includes the ability to model new storage technologies, such as flywheels and zinc bromine flow batteries, both of which will allow designers to develop larger systems that have a higher contribution from renewable energy. Increased renewable energy adds to the requirement for “spinning” or standby operating reserve to bridge periods of variability in wind or solar power sources. 

Flywheels deliver short bursts of power instantaneously to level the delivery of energy in a hybrid system, when additional generation needs to be brought on-line suddenly.  The new zinc bromine flow batteries deliver steady backup power for hours and have a longer life span than tradition lead-acid batteries.

HOMER 2.75 generates warnings when the percentage of renewable energy in a system gets high enough to require more detailed modeling. The new version of HOMER also calculates the peak instantaneous renewable penetration. Higher proportions of renewable energy in hybrid systems are inevitable as the price of renewable energy technology falls while the market, environmental, and security costs of fossil fuels continue to rise. 

HOMER’s decision support capabilities (simulation, optimization, and sensitivity analysis) allow users to choose the most cost-effective energy system by rigorously comparing a wide range of options. In the coming months, HOMER Energy will release a web-based version of HOMER that will respond to customer requirements with a modular architecture, including customized modules. 

Version 2.75 of HOMER will be sold for a minimal fee, but the original free version will always be available at http://www.homerenergy.com.

About HOMER Energy

HOMER Energy is a privately held company located in Boulder, Colorado. It supplies software and services to the rapidly growing international renewable distributed energy market, forecast to be $ 80 billion by 2014. In 2009, HOMER Energy received a license from NREL to be the exclusive commercialization agent enhancing, supporting, and distributing the HOMER software worldwide. HOMER has been downloaded by over 42,000 people in 193 countries worldwide and is used by systems integrators, equipment manufacturers, utilities, facilities managers, governments and non-profit organizations to design hybrid power systems. HOMER is well-suited to analyzing diverse distributed energy applications including grid-tied renewable and cogeneration systems, or situations where the grid is insufficiently reliable – such as islands and remote communities. For more information about HOMER and to download the software, please visit http://www.homerenergy.com.

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