World Wire: HOMER Energy Receives Major National Science Foundation Grant

Ethical MarketsResource Efficiency

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Grant focuses on innovative software that models hybrid energy
systems HOMERR Energy has just received a major grant from the
National Science Foundation to create enhanced versions of the HOMER
software. HOMER is an energy modeling tool that facilitates the
design of hybrid power systems, which integrate storage, renewable
and conventional energy sources.

BOULDER, CO, March 2, 2010 –/WORLD-WIRE/– The National Science
Foundation grant was awarded to HOMER Energy under the auspices of
the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which
recognizes “high quality” science and engineering projects –
including innovative software – “that could lead to significant
commercial and public benefit” for U.S. industry.

Peter Lilienthal, who was the original developer of the HOMER
software at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and is now the
CEO of HOMER Energy, said, “With this grant, we will provide our
40,000 current users with a new version that is both more powerful
and easier to use. The result will be the design of lower-cost,
lower-carbon, high-reliability power systems around the world.”

HOMER Energy has chosen to partner with Paul Komor, of the Renewable
and Sustainable Energy Institute at the University of Colorado,
Boulder. Dr. Komor and his staff will use HOMER to research the
implications of increased proportions of renewable energy in our
power mix. This partnership fulfills the NSF’s mission to increase
collaboration between small businesses and research institutions.

The HOMER software is a powerful tool for designing hybrid power
systems. It simultaneously simulates multiple configurations to
determine the most economical design. HOMER models grid-tied or
off-grid energy systems that include conventional generators,
cogeneration systems, wind turbines, solar photovoltaics, hydropower,
batteries, fuel cells, hydropower, biomass and other inputs. HOMER
helps determine the ways in which variable resources such as wind and
solar can be integrated into hybrid systems that are required to
provide reliable, 24/7 power.

About HOMER Energy

HOMER Energy is a privately held company located in Boulder,
Colorado, which supplies software and services to the rapidly growing
international renewable distributed energy market, forecast to be $80
billion by 2014. In 2009, HOMER Energy received a license from NREL
to be the exclusive commercialization agent enhancing, supporting,
and distributing the HOMER software worldwide. To date, HOMER has
been downloaded by over 40,000 people in 193 countries worldwide, and
gains a thousand new users every month. HOMER software is used by
systems integrators, equipment manufacturers, utilities, facilities
managers, governments and non-profit organizations to design hybrid
power systems. HOMER is well-suited to analyzing a diverse set of
distributed energy applications including grid-tied renewable and
cogeneration systems and situations where the grid is insufficiently
reliable or non-existent such as islands and remote communities. For
more information about HOMER and to download the software, please
visit http://www.homerenergy.com