The default simulation time step in HOMER is 1 hour (60 minutes). HOMER Pro can simulate system operation with any time step from as long as several hours to as short as one minute. You specify the simulation time step using the "Minutes per time step:" drop-down menu on the Optimization page.
The shorter the time step, the more time steps HOMER must simulate to cover one year and the longer each simulation takes.
The simulation time step does not have to match the time step of any time series data you imported. For example, if you import 10-minute wind data and 60-minute load data, and you simulate on a 10-minute time step, HOMER divides each 60-minute load value into six identical 10-minute values. If you simulate on a 60-minute time step, HOMER aggregates six 10-minute wind speed values together into a single 60-minute value for each time step. You can choose to simulate using a 30-minute time step, in which case HOMER aggregates the wind values and disaggregates the load values.