HOMER Energy

After a successful 17-year career at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Senior Economist Dr. Peter Lilienthal decided that the world was ready for the HOMER® hybrid power system optimization software to shift to a commercial product. HOMER has grown to become an international brand that is the global standard in decision making for decision making in the microgrid and distributed energy resource (DER) space.  Dr. Lilienthal founded HOMER Energy LLC in 2009 to commercialize HOMER (Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources), which he had originally developed while at NREL. HOMER Energy's primary focus is the continuing development, distribution, and support of HOMER, which has been re-architected and grown into 2 products and 2 web tools, as well as an open architecture supporting multiple APIs. The company also provides training, consulting and analytic services, and community tools (blogs, forums, webinars, and live events) to industry, government, researchers, and enthusiasts in the energy industry who desire to analyze and optimize distributed power systems and systems that incorporate high penetrations of renewable energy sources.  The HOMER Energy principles have been working with economic and engineering optimization of microgrids for over 25 years. Our collective vision is to empower people around the world with tools, services, and information in order to accelerate the adoption of renewable and distributed energy sources.  In addition to the HOMER software, HOMER Energy offers additional services such as web-based and in person training and assistance in the use of HOMER. We also customize the software for novel problems or types of equipment. In addition we provide a range of consulting services related to the policies, economics, and technologies of renewable and distributed power.  Since its release, HOMER has been downloaded by over 150,000 people in 193 countries. This is a global community of pioneering practitioners in renewable and distributed power. In order to harness the collective wisdom of this group, HOMER Energy has also created an on-line community with discussion forums where users can engage with each other.