DOI
10.18260/1-2--23102

Summary
This study is concerned with the teaching of renewable energy systems in the realm of third level engineer undergraduate programs. The HOMER (Hybrid Optimisation Model for Electric Renewable) software package is presented for its contribution as a valuable tool for teaching renewable energy education, design, modelling and analysis of renewable energy systems. Belu introduces the article by discussing the need and development of renewable energy technologies and he follows that by detailing the renewable energy technology course contents at the university he works at. He then goes on to discuss the use of HOMER in teaching renewables and sustainable design. The HOMER software simulation includes and achieves the following:



HOMER is one of the most popular software systems for evaluating hybrid power and renewable energy systems
It can be configured to analyse and model micro-power and hybrid power systems’ configurations.
It can be programmed to use various energy resources for economics and sizing to delineate the most suited combination to meet load demand and user requirements.
It takes weather conditions, fuel costs, load demand, capacity ranges, and carbon emissions constraints to find the optimum system.
It can enable the design and analysis of hybrid power systems for stand-alone and grid-connected applications.
It requires the data input of: electrical loads (one year of load data), renewable resources, component technical details and cost, constraints, controls, type of dispatch strategy etc.
It uses life-cycle cost to rank order the suggested systems.




Belu describes the implementation of this simulation system in a 10 week renewable course for students. Students are required to for a team of 3-4 by their preference. Each team takes charge of a hybrid power system – they can propose a project or be assigned one by the teacher. Each group is given partial specifications for a renewable energy conversion application. The team then builds the power system using the simulation packages and presents the system to the class at the end of the semester.

Belu goes on to describe the specifications for solar radiation and wind speed data, the load profile and system optimisation. He then concludes the article with personal discussion on the benefits of the program.

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
This study is relevant to the energy systems topic. It contributes to the teaching and learning of energy systems.

The team project simulation exercise is a valuable example of encouraging students to cooperate in a multidisciplinary manner and thus provides a hands-on valuable learning experience.

The paper is limited to in its relevance to contribute to complex systems knowledge but does however, contribute to the teaching of energy systems.

 

Point of Strength
The HOMER simulation software could act as a valuable tool for teaching renewable energy systems.

The multidisciplinary learning benefits to using the HOMER system in a group project could be useful for replication.

HOMER could be used for undergraduate thesis projects. The program could also be used as a source of inspiration to develop another software similar but with different data inputs and desired objectives.