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Early Adopters of Microgrid Technology: African Telecommunications Companies Use Renewable Energy to Power Cell Towers and Industry Growth

Microgrids have proven to be crucial for powering cell towers in Africa, where mobile phone technology leapfrogged over landlines in the past few decades. Ugandan engineer Nelson Tashobya explains how he has used HOMER Pro to design renewably-powered microgrids that save on diesel fuel costs and provide reliable power in remote locations.

Electrify Your Parking Lot: Successfully forecast EV charging revenue and cost in seven easy steps

Join the HOMER Software team on to discover how to take the guesswork out of forecasting EV charging revenue and costs in this educational webinar. As electric vehicles (EVs) sweep the nation, the future of parking is paved with economic opportunities. But it’s not as easy as installing direct current fast charging and getting the needed power supply. Distributed generation-plus-storage systems offer a quicker — and in most cases better and less costly — solution than power grid upgrades. But how do you evaluate the return on investment of adding distributed energy-powered EV charging stations?

UL Solutions HOMER® Grid Software’s New Release Empowers Electric Vehicle Charging Station Designers to Maximize Revenue and Return on Investment

A new release of HOMER® Grid, energy modeling software for grid-connected hybrid power projects, enables users to rapidly calculate EV charging revenue. The new capability helps project developers reduce the time and uncertainty of evaluating the ROI of a proposed, site-specific, renewable energy-plus-storage powered charging station, maximize the project’s value, and demonstrate that value to customers. Additional updates include the addition of California’s new Net Energy Metering (NEM) 3.0 tariffs and the ability to import project production data from other design software. Learn more at the webinar on Sept. 28, 2023. Read more for details.

2023 Renewable Energy Grid Integration Week

UL Solutions is a proud supporter of the 2023 Renewable Energy Grid Integration Week. The events will be held on the Lyngby campus of the Technical University of Denmark – DTU from September 25-28, 2023. Join us for the 7th E-Mobility Power System Integration Symposium and the 22nd Wind & Solar Integration Workshop.

Powering the coming surge of electric vehicles with renewable energy

The coming surge of electric vehicles is going to create massive new demand for EV charging stations. And that in turn is going to create greater nationwide demand for electricity and a challenge for the aging U.S. grid. In a new article in Microgrid Knowledge, Peter Lilienthal, creator of the HOMER software, explains how HOMER Grid can help solve that problem:

Join UL Solutions at RE+ 2023

Join us for presentations and software demos to learn about the latest advancements in HOMER software at RE+ 2023. Stop by UL Solutions booth #355 to see how HOMER software helps you conquer modeling EV charging infrastructure, hydrogen production and utility-scale storage. Get the latest on how to maximize project value and accelerate the design-to-build process.

HOMER Grid 1.10 new EV charging and tariff  features are now available

Electric vehicles are expected to sweep the nation, creating a critical need for businesses to consider EV charging infrastructure and calculate the potential revenue of adding EV charging. That’s one reason we’re super excited to roll out the new version 1.10 of HOMER Grid software, which includes a cutting-edge revenue calculator for EV charging stations, as well as new NEM 3.0 tariffs and the ability to import multiple solar and wind production data files.

Message from the Founder of HOMER Software – March 2023

Microgrid activity is heating up here in the U.S. In this newsletter, we highlight the growing role of microgrids for resilience and the expected impact of the Inflation Reduction Act. Now that the vulnerability of the larger grid has become more apparent, microgrids are becoming the go-to resource for critical facilities and infrastructure everywhere and for whole communities in disaster-prone areas such as California. One such critical facility is the Oregon National Guard’s Nesmith Readiness Center in Dallas, Oregon. The Oregon National Guard recently added long-duration energy storage to its existing solar array to provide resilience in preparation for a major earthquake and tsunami expected to strike in the next 50 years.

Join Us at the Microgrid Knowledge 2023 Conference

Join us from May 16-17, 2023 in Anaheim, California for the Microgrid Knowledge 2023 Conference conference to explore the markets, technologies, policies and customer benefits emerging as we decentralize our energy supply and electrify buildings and transportation. HOMER Software founder, Peter Lilienthal, will be presenting during the “Fending Off Climate Disasters with Microgrids” session on ‘Resilience Hubs: powering energy equity in climate disasters and year-round’.

UL Solutions Releases New Features for HOMER® Grid Modeling Software to Enable More Detailed Cost Evaluations for Grid-tied Microgrids

A new release of HOMER Grid, energy modeling software for grid-connected hybrid power projects, enables more detailed cost calculations. HOMER Grid 1.9 also facilitates setting utility tariffs. The new features allow energy professionals to complete more accurate cost and performance evaluations for a specific distributed energy project. Learn more at a Dec 7, 2022 HOMER Grid webinar.

HOMER Grid new release 1.9 webinar recording now available on-demand

The demand for distributed generation with energy storage is surging — and for good reason: these grid-connected microgrids are the go-to solution for today’s energy challenges. New features in HOMER Grid release 1.9 — the trusted software for designing grid-connected distributed generation projects — make it easier than ever to critically evaluate the costs and performance of energy storage and solar, as well as evolving utility tariffs. Join our HOMER Grid team on December 7th at 9 AM MT for a demonstration of the new features in HOMER Grid.

U.S. Inflation Reduction Act: Impacts on Renewable Energy

In a recent impact analysis of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), UL Solutions cited renewables industry trade group American Clean Power’s statistic that, with the passing of the IRA, roughly 40% of the country’s electricity will come from wind, solar and energy storage by 2030. Overall, the demand for energy storage installations and hybrid systems stands to explode.

Message from the Founder of HOMER Software – September 2022

Activity continues to move microgrids and hybrid power systems forward. The big news here in the U.S. is the passage of major climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act. In our article discussing the law, we focus on the transformational impact of the new policies. We expect it to accelerate the adoption of clean energy in the U.S. and I hope the law encourages other measures around the world.