ENERGY FELLOW – A Community Energy Systems Planning Tool

The Energy Fellow tool assesses the technical and economic viability of community microgrids, district cooling systems, and district heating systems. It enables non-technical users, facility managers, facility owners, and energy managers to quickly determine whether distributed generation technologies—those located near the point of use rather than centralized power plants—or district energy systems are feasible from both a technical and financial perspective for the proposed facilities. 

Energy Fellow can be accessed via the link here: Energy Fellow. 

Various resources will help navigating the tool and related materials are mentioned below. 

Click to view the training videos:

Keep up-to-date on the development of this tool by signing up for HARC’s newsletter.

User manual to help navigate Energy Fellow is available here:

(coming soon)

Feel free to send us your experience about Energy Fellow via this link: Survey.

• Recommended Solution/ Optimal Solution:The best solution determined by analyzing various factors and conditions.

KEY FINANCIAL INDICATORS:

• Investor Goals:The financial objectives established by the user.
• Initial Invest.:The initial funding provided by the stakeholder for starting the project.
• Loan:Funds borrowed from a financial institution to finance the project.
• Annual Savings:The yearly financial savings achieved by the project when compared to the costs of a non-district system.
• NPV:Net Present Value, the total value of a project’s future cash inflows and outflows, discounted to their present value.
• IRR:Internal Rate of Return, the discount rate at which the project’s net present value becomes zero, used to evaluate the profitability of investments.
• DPP:Discounted Payback Period, the time it takes for an investment to repay its initial cost, considering the time value of money.
• Eq. Annuity:The annual payment amount that, if received each year, would have the same present value as the project’s total net present value.

PROJECT COST:

• Service:The cumulative operational costs over the life of the project.
• Maintenance:The total maintenance expenses for the entire duration of the project.
• System Replacements:The aggregate replacement cost of systems during the lifetime of the project.
• Initial Project Cost:The initial financial outlay for starting the project.

RISK and SENSITIVITY ANAYLSIS:

• Risk analysis:An analysis involving 1000 simulated scenarios to assess project risks.
• Value at Risk (Savings) MAXdNPV:The highest NPV among the 1000 simulated scenarios.
• Value at Risk (Savings) MEANdNPV:The average NPV among the 1000 simulated scenarios.
• Value at Risk (Savings) MINdNPV:The lowest NPV among the 1000 simulated scenarios.
• Probability of Obtaining Savings:The likelihood of achieving a positive NPV in the simulations.
• IRR over X% at 90% probability:The minimum IRR achieved in 90% of the simulated scenarios.
• DPP under Y years at 90% probability:The longest payback period within 90% of the simulated scenarios.
• Sensitivity:The outcome of analyzing how sensitive the IRR or DPP is to different assumptions.
• IRR Goal (over X at 90%):The target IRR to be achieved in 90% of the cases during sensitivity analysis.
• Incentive for IRR goals:The incentives needed to reach the set IRR targets.
• Additional Annual Savings for IRR goals:Additional yearly savings needed to reach the set IRR targets.
• DPP Goal (under Y at 90%):The DPP target for the project, set for sensitivity analysis.
• Incentive for DPP goals:The incentives required to achieve the DPP targets.
• Additional Annual Savings for DPP goals:Additional yearly savings needed to reach the set DPP targets.

SYSTEM PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:

• Baseline:The project case created by the user before any generation systems are introduced.
• Electric Demand:The total yearly electricity requirement of the project.
• Cooling Demand:The total yearly cooling requirement of the project.
• Heating Demand:The total yearly heating requirement of the project.
• Generated On-Site:The amount of electricity produced directly at the project site.
• From the Utility:The quantity of electricity supplied to the project by the utility grid.
• Renewable Fraction:The portion of electricity generated on-site from renewable energy sources.
• Electrical Demand Total:The total yearly electricity requirement of the project for cooling/heating.
• Supplied from CHP:Total electricity requirement of the project supplied from CHP.
• Supplied from Grid:Total electricity requirement of the project supplied from the utility grid or excess electricity supplied back to the utility grid.
• Natural Gas Demand:Total natural gas requirement of the project for heating.
• Diesel Demand:Total diesel requirement of the project.
• Hydrogen Demand:Total hydrogen requirement of the project.
• Environ. Emissions:The total yearly carbon dioxide emissions from the project.
• Net Environ. Emissions:Total net yearly carbon emissions from the project, considering excess electricity supplied back to the utility grid.
• Onsite Fuel to Power Eff.:The efficiency ratio of fuel consumption to electricity generation.
• Energy to Fuel Ratio:The efficiency ratio considering fuel consumption and the generation of both electricity and heat.
• LCOE:Levelized Cost of Electricity: The average cost per unit of electricity produced.
• LCOC:Levelized Cost of Cooling: The average cost per unit of cooling produced.
• LCOH:Levelized Cost of Heating: The average cost per unit of heat produced.
• Breakeven Point:The annual amount of electricity/cooling/heating at which the cost of LCOE/LCOC/LCOH equals the grid electricity price/the cost to produce cooling from grid electricity/the cost to produce heating from grid electricity and natural gas respectively.
• Load Duration Curve:A graph showing the number of hours per year the electricity demand/cooling demand/heating demand is above a specific threshold, illustrating the project’s demand variability.

ENERGY GENERATION PERFORMANCE:

• Rated Capacity (kW)/(Tons)/(MMBTU/hr.):The optimal or user-selected capacity of a technology type for the project.
• Max Capacity (kW)/(Tons)/(MMBTU/hr.):The highest output capacity achievable by the technology.
• Avg Capacity (kW)/(Tons)/(MMBTU/hr.):The average output capacity of the technology across its operational period.
• Annual Operating Hours:The total number of hours the technology operates in a year.
• Lifespan based on Operation Hours (Years):The estimated operational lifespan of the technology for the project.
• Starts:The number of times the technology starts up in a year.
• Energy Generated (kWh/Year):The amount of electricity produced by the technology in a year.
• Thermal Output (kWh/Year):The amount of thermal energy generated by the technology in a year.
• Cooling Generated (Ton-hr./Year):The amount of cooling produced by the technology in a year.
• Heating Generated (MMBTU/Year):The amount of heat produced by the technology in a year.
• Electricity Generated (kWh/Year):The amount of electricity produced by the technology in a year.
• Electricity Consumed (kWh/Year):The amount of electricity consumption by the technology in a year.
• Fuel (kWh/Year):The annual fuel consumption of the technology in a year.
• Efficiency (%):The percentage efficiency of the technology in converting fuel to energy or the percentage efficiency of the technology in converting fuel/electricity to heat.
• COP:Coefficient Of Performance: The efficiency of chiller of converting fuel/electricity to cooling.
• Env Emissions (kg CO₂/Year):The annual carbon dioxide emissions from the technology.

GitHub Repository associated with Energy Fellow which includes back-end codes are stored here: GitHub.