Maui Brewing Company Uses HOMER Pro to Achieve Grid Independence and Work Towards 100% Renewable Status

Maui Brewing Company, Hawaii’s largest craft brewery, is achieving grid independence and working towards 100% renewable operation with a new microgrid that was modeled using HOMER Pro. Featuring a massive PV array (close to a MW), Tesla batteries and Cummins generators that run on biodiesel, the microgrid should save $300,000 per year, cutting the company’s energy costs in half:

New Updates to HOMER Grid Software Offer Enhanced Modeling for Distributed Energy Systems

The HOMER Grid software, a tool for pre-feasibility analysis of grid-tied distributed energy systems, has three new features that will make it an even more powerful and efficient tool. Released this week, HOMER Grid 1.6 provides for close integration with financial modeling tools, easy creation of custom utility tariffs and improved ways to determine the optimal size of PV inverters:

Kibera microgrid helps bring education, clean laundry and employment to Nairobi’s urban poor

In the middle of the Kibera, a large shantytown outside of Nairobi, a mirorgrid is powering a a new community center that provides clean water, showers, laundry facilities, internet service and classrooms for people who live in the surrounding neighborhood. It is also providing newfound hope and job training for the residents, according to Serena Patel, an Energy engineering student at the University of California at Berkeley is working on the microgrid. Serena will be presenting her findings at the HOMER International Microgrid Conference October 7-9 in Cambridge, MA. Learn more:

HOMER Energy 2019 Conference to Explore Rapidly Diversifying Microgrid Market

The 7th annual HOMER International Microgrid Conference will take place in Cambridge, Massachusetts from October 7-9. Acknowledging the explosion in popularity of microgrids worldwide, the conference will explore the lessons that can be learned from pioneering microgrids in remote locations, and examine what insights can be applied to new grid-connected projects. In addition to domestic applications, leading microgrid innovators will present case studies from around the world:

Container Microgrids: Lowering Costs Through Modular Design and Streamlined Engineering

In the ongoing effort to lower the cost of microgrid deployment, one concept that continues to evolve is that of the modular microgrid, best expressed in a system that can fit inside a single shipping container. It’s not a new idea. What is relatively new is a complete, stand-alone hybrid renewable energy system, such as the ones designed by BoxPower and Arizona State University:

Demand response – coming soon to HOMER Grid

Demand response programs are evolving to meet new kinds of load management challenges that utilities are facing. The evolution of distributed renewable energy resources is prompting more utilities to implement demand response programs. As a result, HOMER Energy is upgrading HOMER Grid, our primary tool for designing behind-the-meter distributed energy systems, to include financial modeling of demand response:

HOMER International Microgrid Conference – 2019 Agenda

Join us from October 6-9 at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, MA for the 7th annual HOMER International Microgrid Conference. We will be exploring the world of microgrids – from energy access in developing countries to innovations in grid-tied systems in the U.S. The industry’s foremost designers and analysts will be on hand to provide their vision of the industry:

Falling Renewable Power Costs Open Door to Greater Climate Ambition

Over three-quarters of the onshore wind and four-fifths of the solar PV capacity that is due to be commissioned next year will produce power at lower prices than the cheapest new coal, oil or natural gas options, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). That makes renewable energy the least-cost climate solution, IRENA says, and prices will continue to fall into the next decade:

California Utilities Plan Shutoffs to Forestall 2019 Fire Disasters

Reeling from several years of catastrophic wildfires and the financial losses that are looming in their wake, California utilities have a new strategy for dealing with fire risk: shutting off the electricity. The plan targets populations in high-risk fire zones – which include much of the state – and creates worrisome risk for vulnerable populations. MIcrogrids would improve resilience and soften the blow of power cuts.

Learning from Western Australia: A geography made for microgrids

With its massive land area, thinly scattered population and resource-based economy, Western Australia has always been challenged to maintain an electric grid that covers long distances under harsh environmental conditions. Utilities are discovering that hybrid renewable microgrids can be cheaper than the upkeep on such a sprawling electrical empire, and the state’s government is listening:

Multi-year Features of HOMER Grid Software Can Help Solar+Storage Developers Predict Financial Impacts of Utility Tariff Increases

Experts and new users of the HOMER Grid software are driving enhancements that will enable more powerful and accurate modeling of grid-tied distributed energy systems. Released today, the new version of HOMER Grid for optimizing behind-the-meter distributed generation features a new Multiyear Analysis function that calculates impacts of future changes like utility price increases and load growth: