HOMER Grid 1.1
You can download load profiles from Open Energy Information (OpenEI). On the Set Up page for either Electric Load , click the Download button under Access the OpenEI Database for electrical load profiles.
Based on the location defined on the Home page, the load options for within 320km of the chosen location appear in the pop-up window.
Tip: You must select a location in the US before you can see your location-specific load profile options.
OpenEI, with funding from the Department of Energy, developed 16 reference building types for each of 16 locations, which represent all U.S. climate zones.
|
BUILDING TYPE NAME |
FLOOR AREA (FT2) |
NUMBER OF FLOORS |
|
Large Office |
498,588 |
12 |
|
Medium Office |
53,628 |
3 |
|
Small Office |
5,500 |
1 |
|
Warehouse |
52,045 |
1 |
|
Stand-alone Retail |
24,962 |
1 |
|
Strip Mall |
22,500 |
1 |
|
Primary School |
73,960 |
1 |
|
Secondary School |
210,887 |
2 |
|
Supermarket |
45,000 |
1 |
|
Quick Service Restaurant |
2,500 |
1 |
|
Full Service Restaurant |
5,500 |
1 |
|
Hospital |
241,351 |
5 |
|
Outpatient Health Care |
40,946 |
3 |
|
Small Hotel |
43,200 |
4 |
|
Large Hotel |
122,120 |
6 |
|
Midrise Apartment |
33,740 |
4 |
Source: https://energy.gov/eere/buildings/commercial-reference-buildings
These 16 building types represent approximately 70% of commercial buildings in the US, according to this NREL report: https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy11osti/46861.pdf
The 16 climate zones used to create the reference buildings are:
|
CLIMATE ZONE |
REPRESENTATIVE CITY |
|
1A |
Miami, Florida |
|
2A |
Houston, Texas |
|
2B |
Phoenix, Arizona |
|
3A |
Atlanta, Georgia |
|
3B-Coast |
Los Angeles, California |
|
3B |
Las Vegas, Nevada |
|
3C |
San Francisco, California |
|
4A |
Baltimore, Maryland |
|
4B |
Albuquerque, New Mexico |
|
4C |
Seattle, Washington |
|
5A |
Chicago, Illinois |
|
5B |
Boulder, Colorado |
|
6A |
Minneapolis, Minnesota |
|
6B |
Helena, Montana |
|
7 |
Duluth, Minnesota |
|
8 |
Fairbanks, Alaska |
Source: https://energy.gov/eere/buildings/commercial-reference-buildings
The following is a map with climatic zones in the USA.
Source: https://energy.gov/eere/buildings/building-america-climate-specific-guidance
The source of this data is OpenEI, through the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) and the Department of Energy (DOE). This data is provided as is and neither OpenEI nor HOMER Energy offers any guarantees regarding its accuracy.
Tip: If you want to use one of these load profiles, but your site location is outside of the US:
1.On the Home page, choose a location in the US with similar climate conditions.
2.Under Electric Load #1, select the facility profile that you want to model.
3. On the Home page, correct your location.
4. Download your resources and continue modeling.
Further information regarding the methodology of how these load profiles were defined can be found at: https://energy.gov/eere/buildings/commercial-reference-buildings
The data is downloadable at: http://en.openei.org/datasets/dataset/commercial-and-residential-hourly-load-profiles-for-all-tmy3-locations-in-the-united-states/resource/b341f6c6-ab5a-4976-bd07-adc68a2239c4
Further documentation regarding this data set can be found at: http://en.openei.org/datasets/dataset/commercial-and-residential-hourly-load-profiles-for-all-tmy3-locations-in-the-united-states
