Technology selection and unit sizing for a combined heat and power microgrid: Comparison of WebOpt and HOMER application programs

The purpose of this paper is to design an optimal CHP islanded microgrid, through technology selection and unit sizing software, to be used for further research on real-time energy management. Two software packages, HOMER
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and WebOpt
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, originally developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Lawrence Berkley Laboratory (LBL), respectively, are utilized. Using these programs, different cases are created and compared to justify the selected technologies and their respective prices. The final microgrid design contains renewable and alternative energy generation, hydrogen as an energy carrier, and electric storage.