HOMER

HOMER is a computer model that simplifies the task of evaluating design options for both off-grid and grid-connected power systems for remote, stand-alone, and distributed generation (DG) applications. HOMER's optimization and sensitivity analysis algorithms allow the user to evaluate the economic and technical feasibility of a large number of technology options and to account for variation in technology costs and energy resource availability. HOMER simulates both conventional and renewable energy technologies and finds the least cost combination of components that meets electrical and thermal loads. HOMER simulates the operation of a system by making energy balance calculations for each of the 8,760 hours in a year. After simulating all of the possible system configurations, HOMER displays a list of feasible systems, sorted by lifecycle cost. You can also perform a sensitivity analysis on most inputs to examine the effect of changes in the value on the results

Go to the HOMER website and download the HOMER energy analysis tool. Use the RREX tool, to query the renewable energy resource potential at a specific location by zooming in and clicking on the map. Click on the "Graph Data" button to the lower right of the map. Create graphs of all of the layers of interest. Click on the "Download Data" on the middle right of the page to create a ".csv" file containing data for all of the variables graphed. Read the HOMER documentation to determine how to input the data into HOMER.

For Flat-Plate Solar Collectors select GHI instead of Tilt. HOMER will make the adjustment to Tilt internally.