The REopt Web Tool Use for International Locations
The REopt Web Tool was designed for locations within the United States. However, with appropriate adjustments, it is possible to use most of its features for international locations.
Currency
Load Profile
Financial Info
Solar Production Data
Wind Resource Data
Site Location & Utility Rate
Selecting a site location outside the US will prompt a message that no electricity rates can be found for the location. This is because the utility rate database used by REopt Web Tool does not include international locations. However, custom utility rates can be entered as simple annual or monthly rates. Detailed rates, with variable prices dependent on times and months, can also be entered if the user is registered and logged in to a user account. Details of rate structures for some international locations can be found at the International Utility Rate Database.
Currency
Currency values are all in US dollars. Conversions from the local currency to USD can be made for inputs of utility rates, system costs, and incentive values. Conversion of the final results of the evaluation will then be necessary, from USD back to the local currency. One popular tool for currency conversion approximation is the XE Currency Converter.
Load Profile
The Load Profile option for simulated load data is based on US building and climate area data. If this simulated load option is used, the simulated load profile should be checked for reasonableness for the climate of the selected location.
Financial Info
Financial, tax and incentive input defaults in all sections need to be carefully considered and altered to match local tax and interest rates and available financial incentives. Default costs for technology systems are also based on typical costs in the US. Resources for researching international renewable energy costs can be found at the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Solar Production Data
Solar production data is taken from the PVWatts® dataset, which includes many international locations. REopt will use the closest available location that is found to have resource data, so the user should independently confirm that PVWatts includes data for a location that is acceptably close to their site location. The available resource data locations can be found using NREL's PV Watts.
Wind Resource Data
Wind systems can’t currently be modeled from the webtool user interface for international locations due to lack of international wind resource data. However, if the user has hourly wind resource data for their site, they can use this data in the application programming interface (API), instead of the webtool interface, to complete an optimization.