I am a regular user of the HOMER software. I have some doubts related to the lower heating value of biomass gasifier fuel. In HOMER, it is a sensitivity variable. If I give different values to LHV, the results did not reflect any variation. There is no change in cost of energy, fuel cost, specific fuel consumption, etc. for different LHV of fuel.

I want to ask about the biomass energy and if it is found in the software to generate heat not electricity because I use biomass in water heating system. You can enter your water heating load as a thermal load in HOMER, and then specify biomass as the fuel for the boiler. You will have to create a new fuel first, give it the appropriate proper

I downloaded the Homer 2 software and i seem to be able to create simulations using all resources except biomass resource which is the particular one i need. Please explain how i can go about this. If you either click "Cofire with biomass" or choose Biogas as a fuel for one of the generators. Those are both on the Fuel tab of the Generator Inp

HOMER does in fact calculate emissions, and display them on the Emissions tab of the Simulation Results window: That window appears when you double click on any system configuration in the optimization results list control. The generator, boiler, and grid input windows contain the inputs that HOMER uses to calculate the emissions, and the Emiss

How do I account for the capital cost of the digester? If the digester has a long lifetime, you can probably assume it will not require replacement during the project lifetime. So you don't have to specify its replacement cost, just its capital cost and O&M cost. To do that, you could use the system fixed capital and O&M variables on

How does HOMER calculate emission, especially carbon dioxide? If the system you are modeling consumes fuel, HOMER calculates the total annual carbon input by multiplying the fuel consumption by the carbon content of the fuel. It assumes that all that carbon gets emitted as either unburned hydrocarbons, CO, or CO2. You enter the emissions fact

HOMER Energy welcomes new components into the component library that ships free with the product. By getting your components into HOMER Pro, potential customers consider your products for their distributed generation or microgrid project from the earliest stages. There is no cost for this program. There are only two requirements: You send us a

It is possible to change the hydro resource data (stream flow data) depending on the location of the site. On the Hydro Resource window, you can enter monthly average stream flows or you can import a data file containing one year of hourly stream flow data. For details, please click the Help button on that window.

How can I use the capacity of a dam as sensitive input? Unfortunately HOMER can only model run-of-river hydro systems, not ones with storage reservoirs. So you can't use HOMER to consider the trade-off between electrical storage (in the form of batteries) and hydro storage in the reservoir, nor can you enter the reservoir capacity or do a sens

I note that the Hydro Inputs window has the option to “Simulate systems both with and without the hydro turbine”. Why is this option necessary? Won’t HOMER by default rank the systems according to cost so that it will be seen whether or not the hydro system is cost-effective? This is what obtains in the case of the PV and wind turbine systems i.e.

Should I be interested in importing biomass resource data for use in HOMER and how can I properly format a file with this information? I rarely use the biomass resource input window. Each time I have analyzed a biomass power system, there has been an unlimited amount of biomass feedstock. So I have simply defined my own fuel (by clicking the

I am modeling a hybrid wave and wind project. I have component performance data and power curves. We are also deploying wave measurement devices. How do I get this data into the format for HOMER analysis? Also, the hydrokinetic component appears to be similar to the wind turbine. The hydrokinetic component is modeled after the wind turbine. The hy

I want to input a battery system with 2 parallel strings of 12 2V batteries in series , ie 24 2 V batteries with a system voltage of 48V. If I input 24 quantity of batteries, 12 batteries per string and 2 strings it gives me 24V system voltage – it should be 48V. To get 48V I have to input 24 batteries per string. What am I doing wrong? A st

How can you model a biogas-powered electric generator in HOMER? There are two methods to model a biogas-powered electric generator in HOMER. For both methods, first add a generator to the schematic. 1. If there is an abundant supply of biogas feedstock throughout the year, create a new fuel by clicking the Fuel tab in the Generator Inputs wi

How can we use your software to analyse a combination of tidal turbine and diesel power? You could model your hydrokinetic turbine as a wind turbine. You would have to create a new 'wind turbine' with the power curve of the hydrokinetic turbine you have in mind. (It will show power output versus water speed.) Then you would need to enter hour

Yes, you can model that hydro turbine in HOMER. Use a spreadsheet to create a file of hourly stream flow data, and make the stream flow zero for the ten hours a day that the hydro turbine does not operate. See the Help article for the Hydro Resource Input window for details such as the required file format.

I am working on a system which includes grid, wind, solar PV, and biogas produced from anaerobic digestion. I am finding a problem to input the biomass resource in this case because it does not involve gasification as described in 'help' of Homer. Any suggestions? If you don't have to worry about scarcity in the supply of biogas, then I recom

In HOMER, the converter component generally models any device that converts power from AC to DC (rectifying) and DC to AC (inverting). Some devices are bi-directional, meaning that it can convert power flowing in either direction, either AC to DC or vice versa. Some systems will use two seperate devices: a rectifier for AC to DC conversion, and an

Is it possible to model a hybrid system where electrical wind energy powers a biomass gasification unit in HOMER? HOMER can model a biogas-fueled generator. It can also model a system that uses resistance heating to allow excess renewable electricity to serve a thermal load. HOMER assumes the bio-gasification system works independently of the

Is it possible to use HOMER for modeling a Biomass gasification based electricity generation system? You certainly can model biomass-fueled generators in HOMER. There are two ways to do so: 1. If the supply of biomass feedstock is abundant throughout the year, the easiest thing to do is to simply define your own fuel (using the "New" button o

Can HOMER model for Biogas and Heat Pump? You can already model biogas power in HOMER, either by defining your own fuel or by choosing "Biogas" as the fuel for a generator. If you have an effectively unlimited source of biogas feedstock, you should define your own biogas fuel and give it an appropriate cost. If the feedstock supply is seasona

I can't find the possible hydro parameter to match my load. When modeling small hydro power in HOMER, you need to be careful to match the size of the hydro turbine (the design flow rate) to the available hydro resource. It is usually best to start with the hydro resource. First, estimate the stream flow to whatever degree of detail you can, and t

How would you model Mini Hydro (range 1 to 5 MW)? Use a turbine efficiency curve so the efficiency depends on the flow rate, rather than being constant. This is an easy enhancement, one we plan to do. The only reason we made the efficiency constant is to avoid complication in the interface, but we'll probably let the user select between simpl

Can HOMER be used to model wood-fired power plants? Yes, you could define a fuel called 'Wood' and then model a generator that uses that fuel. For any generator you enter the fuel curve, which specifies fuel consumption versus electric power production.

Unfortunately HOMER can model only one hydro system If your system comprises multiple hydro systems, then to model that system in HOMER you will have to combine them into an equivalent single hydro system. Doing so will require a lot of preprocessing. One possibility would be to calculate the power output of each hydro turbine in each time step

I was wondering what types of particulate matter is estimated by HOMER? I imagine it is PM2.5, but I do not see that specified anywhere. You can define the particulate matter as PM2.5 if you want to. HOMER is not concerned with the size of the particles or how deeply they enter into your lungs. It simply multiplies the generator's fuel consum

I use Homer as a teaching aid but am unsure of a few things: Power factor in load. My understanding is that apparent power reflects back into the dc side of an inverter and draws true power from the battery eg. 1kVA apparent power load of PF 0.5 is actual power of 0.5kW in load but battery must deliver 1000W. If this is the case then apparent power

Is there any way to print or share the "Primary Load Inputs" screen? The easiest way to share your inputs is to email your .hmr file. If you would rather send only your load inputs, the best way to do that is with an XML file. In the Primary Load Inputs window, choose Export XML from the File menu. Then email the file. The recipient can impor

To model a geothermal plant or turbine that produces a steady amount of power, create a new generator with a new fuel called "Steam" or "Hot water". To optimize the capacity of the geothermal plant/turbine, you must use one of HOMER's "size-your-own" generators, which can be found in the Complete Catalog with other Generic generators. Alternatively

How can I model two inverters in one system? If the PV array has a dedicated inverter, I would model that as an AC PV system. (That's possible in the latest version 2.67 beta, but not in version 2.19.) Just make sure that the costs that you enter in the PV cost table include the cost of that inverter, and when you indicate the power capacity

HOMER can model both switched and parallel inverters. To model a parallel inverter, check the checkbox labeled "Inverter can operate simultaneously with an AC generator" in the Converter Inputs window. To model a switched inverter, do not check that checkbox.

What does the yellow exclamation point that I see in the result mean? Occasionally an optimized system will show a yellow "!" warning icon in the sensitivity case and optimization case tables. The warning occurs for systems that have potential instability due to high renewable energy penetration. This can be caused by two conditions: a high

Product: HOMER Pro version 3.10 and above As of version 3.10, HOMER Pro users can get an extended library of more than 20,000 solar PV, 3,000 converters and 300 wind turbines for use in their modeling. This feature further enhances your existing library and ensures that you’ll be able to find the equipment you want for your model. How to exten

I wish to incorporate a number of sources into my design and will be using a combination of DC and AC converters. Do you have a suggestion as how to go about incorporating losses from more than one converter? Assuming I wish to have a DC bus and attach a number of AC or DC sources with likewise differing loads, is there any way to incorporate conve

I found negative emission outputs for the wind/grid-connected and wind/PV/grid connected system. I am confused whyit is like that?? After searching I found your below mentioned statement: Sales of power to the grid result in reduced grid emissions, and HOMER credits the power system with these reductions. The system can even achieve negative emi