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NREL Adds Flow Battery Module to HOMER Software Suite

November 07, 2005 by Jeff Shepard

VRB Power Systems Inc. (Vancouver, BC), an electrochemical and battery energy storage company, and the US Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced the addition of a VRB Flow Battery Module to NREL's HOMER software, which simulates and optimizes standalone and grid-connected power systems comprising any combination of wind turbines, photovoltaic arrays, run-of-river hydro power, biomass power, internal combustion engine generators, microturbines, fuel cells, batteries, and hydrogen storage, serving both electric and thermal loads. HOMER is used by utilities, project developers, researchers, and others who are evaluating the potential for distributed or renewable power systems.

"The Flow Battery module provides HOMER with the flexibility to independently assess how to optimize the battery's power and energy ratings, a characteristic unique to flow batteries. In trial runs with the new module it quickly became clear that flow batteries are a viable option for cases where moderate or better wind speeds are available, and enable the use of significantly higher renewable resource penetration than traditional storage systems," said NREL Senior Economist and HOMER Project Manager Peter Lilienthal.

HOMER can be freely downloaded from http://www.nrel.gov/homer. The flow battery simulation is currently available in a beta version from the website, and will become a permanent feature of the HOMER software when HOMER version 2.2 is publicly released.