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:
CASE STUDIES
Locating Pittsburgh Microgrids for Climate Resilience and Calculating their Value
A University of Pittsburgh economist who specializes in analyzing the financial risk of climate impacts is working on calculating the value of microgrids to help provide greater resilience in cities. She’s using spacial techniques to determine where microgrids should be located to provide maximum service, and she’s using HOMER Pro calculate a cost-benefit analysis:
Santa Cruz Solar Company Moves Off the Grid, Using HOMER Pro to Design New Microgrid
Sandbar Solar, a Northern California solar developer, has unveiled a new microgrid to power their newly constructed corporate headquarters in the middle of the city of Santa Cruz. The islanded, off-grid electricity system was modeled using HOMER Pro.
Using HOMER Grid to Calculate Financial Incentives for Storage and Peak Demand Reduction
Understanding the financial benefits of solar+storage for commercial utility customers is a complex task, especially when calculating incentives that vary widely from state to state. In this story we present a New England case where HOMER Grid was used to solve this complex problem:
Business Models Key to Successful Microgrids in Nepal
Currently, only 11% of Nepal’s rural population of about 23 million people has access to electricity. And many people who live in remote villages still subsist on kerosene and batteries. But, pioneering Nepalese renewable energy developer has spent almost a decade tackling the electricity challenge in Nepal. They have an impressive track record and some key lessons to pass along.
Using Games to Engage Communities in Microgrid Development
Energy Action Partners is harnessing the universal allure of games to engage developing country communities in the process of planning and designing sustainable energy projects. Minigrids (microgrids) that […]
Inside the World’s Most Advanced Microgrid: The University of California San Diego
One of the highlights of the HOMER International Microgrid Conference, held October 8-10 in San Diego was a tour of the microgrid at the University of California San […]
Pioneering Kaiser Microgrid Meets Stringent Safety and Reliability Standards and Saves Money Too
When Hospital Power Fails It’s hard to imagine a more mission-critical power user than a hospital. Hospital buildings require 24/7 heating, and cooling, and air-handling to maintain the […]
HOMER Pro® Eases the Design Challenges of a Private Microgrid in the Catskills
Nestled in the Catskills there’s a new microgrid that defies the usual value propositions. It’s an outlier of a project because microgrids are normally built for different reasons […]
Bringing A Renewable Microgrid to the Canadian Arctic Village of Old Crow
The remote Canadian village of Old Crow recently concluded a groundbreaking agreement with a local utility to sell the output of a 940 kW solar array. According to […]
New Markets for Behind-the-Meter Wind? Now HOMER Grid Can Help Users Decide
The economics of distributed wind projects, ones that use small and medium-size turbines, could be looking promising as interest builds in the development of hybrid distributed energy development. […]
Bringing Energy Access to Micronesia
HOMER Energy conducts training missions all over the world to share knowledge about distributed energy in general and teach people how to use the HOMER software. In one project in Micronesia, the challenge was to figure out how to bring electricity to 40,000 people across hundreds of islands in the
South Pacific:
After the Storm: Off-Grid Solar+Storage Brings Hope to Puerto Rico
In late September of 2017, Hurricane Maria pummeled the island of Puerto Rico, ripping out its aging, indebted and poorly maintained electric grid by the roots. Island residents […]
HOMER Pro Joins a Team in the 2018 U.S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition
A team of students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison is used HOMER® Pro to create economic models for their entry in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) “Collegiate Wind Competition.” The project was to create wind-powered microgrids to power EV charging stations across the windiest part of the Great Plains:
“Steel City:” Using HOMER Pro to Help Create a Resilient Energy Future for Pittsburgh
Microgrid technology is set to play a big role in the continued revitalization of the rust-belt city of Pittsburgh, according to Dr. Gregory Reed, professor of engineering at […]
Hybrid Microgrids Bring Solar to Niger
One of Africa’s poorest countries is embarking on a major project that will use solar to reduce the costs and pollution burden of diesel-powered village microgrids. The project […]
HOMER Pro: Helping to Build the World’s Largest Radio Telescope
HOMER Pro, the microgrid optimization platform, has been playing an important role in deploying one of the most ambitious science projects ever conceived: The Square Kilometer Array (SKA). […]
Pioneering Remote Microgrids in Alaska
With its extreme weather conditions and isolated off-grid communities, Alaska is the American microgrid “frontier.” Over 200 remotely powered Alaskan villages are not connected to power grids. They […]
Sigora Microgrid Provides Affordable, 24/7 Power to Haiti’s Impoverished Communities
How is it that the poorest country in Western Hemisphere is home to one of the world’s most sophisticated microgrid projects? Maybe fate has determined that the embattled […]
HOMER Energy Explores Microgrid and Renewable Energy Solutions for Puerto Rico
Close to three months after Hurricane Maria swept across Puerto Rico, utterly destroying the island’s electrical grid – as well as countless homes and communities – much of […]
Comet ME’s Jubbet a-Dhib Microgrid — a HOMER Pro Case Study [UPDATED with Confiscation & Return, Reinstallation News]
Ice Cream, Appliances, and Autonomy: Rural Electrification Project Lights West Bank Village (Read about a tragic update followed by positive outcome for Jubbet a-Dhib microgrid in updates below […]
Cold Storage: Powering Remote Microgrids in the Far North — A HOMER Pro Case Study
HOMER User Case Study: SAFT The following case study is adapted from a presentation given at the 2016 HOMER International Microgrid Conference. SAFT‘s Stuart Lansburg spoke to attendees about […]
Rocky Mountain Institute: Planning Saint Lucia’s Energy Future — A HOMER Pro Case Study
HOMER Case Study: Rocky Mountain Institute Saint Lucia, like other island nations in the Caribbean, experiences high and volatile energy prices and has an economy extremely vulnerable to fluctuations […]
Philippines Microgrids Bring Sustainable Energy to Villages — A HOMER Pro Case Study
Shell Foundation, Philippines, recently hired consultant Silver Navarro to assist its Dutch consultant with an Access to Energy program promoting Philippines microgrids. The program’s purpose is designing an off-grid power system that the community can sustainably operate and maintain to meet its basic electricity requirement. HOMER Pro helped the program make rural microgrids reliable and affordable.