Software updates to HOMER Grid provide powerful, new features to more easily and quickly model commercial-scale solar-plus-storage and other behind-the-meter distributed energy systems.

Today HOMER Energy released important updates for its newest distributed energy design software, HOMERⓇ Grid, a powerful simulation and optimization tool that helps solar developers, engineers, and energy and business planners lower the soft costs of developing complex, behind-the-meter, renewable energy projects. HOMER Grid now makes it easier to more accurately model demand charge reductions, self-consumption, and arbitrage between time of use (TOU) periods.

The new version of HOMER Grid includes a more sophisticated Tariff Builder to capture the complexity of todays commercial tariff structures for users around the world. It also allows users to input residential tariffs for modeling designs and estimating cost savings on small solar-plus-storage systems. Following on the solar-plus-storage theme, HOMER Grid is now integrated with the popular solar design programs Helioscope and PVsyst, providing more accurate solar production data along with estimates that are externally verified and are therefore bankable. The software now also includes wind modeling, allowing users to consider the economics of wind in a hybrid system.
"With new updates that make it easier to use and more applicable for users around the world, HOMER Grid is the go-to choice for commercial electricity customers who are facing complex and potentially confusing choices for their behind-the-meter, distributed energy projects," said Dr. Peter Lilienthal, HOMER Energy Founder and CEO. "There are a lot of complex decisions that go into designing a system with the best rate of return, and HOMER Grid is here to help."
The latest version of HOMER Grid also includes a new resiliency feature to help plan for operating a power system during extended outages caused by extreme weather events or other disasters. Calculation times have also been dramatically improved, and calendar-based calculations, such as daylight savings, are now more accurate.
Built on the same foundation as HOMER Pro, the global standard for designing distributed generation systems, HOMER Grid simplifies decisions about behind-the-meter, distributed energy resource investments. It helps engineers and business development teams understand the value of demand charge reduction, energy arbitrage, and self-consumption so they can determine the best mix of resources for the least-cost solution, and design a hybrid renewable energy system with the best rate of return. HOMER Grid is available in a free, 21-day trial at homerenery.com/trygrid.

About HOMER Energy
Founded in 2009 by Peter Lilienthal, Ph.D., and Marilyn Walker, Ph.D., Boulder, Colorado-based HOMER Energy is the developer and distributor of HOMER software, including HOMER Pro and HOMER Grid. With over 150,000 users in more than 190 countries, HOMER Pro is the global standard for microgrid decision analysis and feasibility studies. HOMER Energy provides software, training, and consulting services to identify how to build cost-effective and reliable microgrids that combine conventional and renewable power, storage, and load management. Its mission statement, "Clean Power Everywhere," embodies the companys goal to be the foremost provider of solutions for clean, affordable energy worldwide. Learn more at www.homerenergy.com.