What is MicrogridModeler?

A microgrid modeling instrument that runs in your browser. It dispatches solar, wind, storage, gas and diesel generators and the grid hour by hour across a full year (8,760 hours), then carries the results through lifecycle economics. There are two tools: the Quote Studio, for a commercial quote on a utility tariff, and the Modeler, for least-cost sizing, off-grid design and resilience.

Developers, EPCs and consultants pricing commercial solar and storage use the Quote Studio. Engineers sizing off-grid or grid-tied microgrids use the Modeler. Homeowners get a quick answer from the calculators with a ZIP code and a monthly bill. Utility engineers and researchers can read the methodology and call the simulation API.

Where do the inputs come from?

The commercial reference cases cite their utility tariff by OpenEI URDB record and effective date, and scale a synthetic hourly solar shape to the PVWatts annual yield from NLR (formerly NREL). Off-grid benchmark sites generate a synthetic solar year from NASA POWER monthly climatology. Unit costs default to NLR ATB and REopt values. Every input stays editable, and synthetic data is labelled as synthetic.

Are the results reproducible?

Yes. The engine is deterministic: synthetic weather and failure runs use explicit seeds, so the same inputs give the same outputs. Figures carry the model version, a SHA-256 hash of the inputs, the solve time measured on your device and the largest hourly energy imbalance.

Are incentives or tax credits included?

Not automatically. In the Quote Studio an incentive is a number you enter, received at year zero, with no eligibility assumption. In the Modeler the federal investment credit is a slider you set. The reference cases on this page carry no incentive.

Has the engine been validated against REopt or HOMER?

Not with published cross-engine results yet. The 20 benchmark projects are reference cases, not independent validation. Dispatch controllers and resilience measures follow the NPS Microgrid Planner v3.1, and the methodology documents that audit. For your own project, the Modeler can run REopt V3 sizing beside its local result.

Do I need an account?

No. Both tools are free during early access and there are no accounts. Projects are kept in your browser; export a JSON file to move or share one, or copy a Modeler share link.

Yes, in open beta: POST /api/v1/simulate runs a benchmark or your own 8,760-hour project and returns results, economics and an input fingerprint. It needs no key, is limited to 20 requests a minute and has no SLA. The OpenAPI description is at /openapi.json.

Microgrid modeling instrumentEngine 3.0 · 8,760 h dispatch · deterministic

Every hour.
Every dollar.

Accounted for. MicrogridModeler solves a site hour by hour across a full year of solar, wind, storage, generators and the grid, then carries every result through the project’s lifecycle and shows its working.

Build a quote Open the Modeler

Fig. 1One year of one microgrid

Solved at build

21.31°N 157.86°W350 kWdc solar200 kWh / 100 kW storagegrid-tiedHawaiian Electric Schedule J900 MWh/yr load

Solar
Storage
Grid import

Sunrise, sunset (computed)Brightness = kW delivered

A · 21 JUNLongest daySolar 1.50 MWhLoad 2.91 MWh

B · 21 DECShortest daySolar 1.11 MWhLoad 2.58 MWh

Solar
Storage
Grid import
Load
Into storage
Exported

Engine output, not illustration. Computed by the Quote Studio engine, at build time for this first picture and again on your device, for a 350 kWdc solar and 200 kWh storage system on a 900 MWh/yr synthetic commercial load in Honolulu. The tariff is Hawaiian Electric Co Inc (Oʻahu) Schedule J, effective 2026-03-01, checked 2026-09-24. Solar is a synthetic hourly shape scaled to the PVWatts annual yield from NLR (formerly NREL), 1,601 kWh/kWdc. No incentive is applied and exports are valued at $0. Each cell is one hour: its hue is the source that served most of that hour's load, its brightness the kW that source delivered. Dotted curves are sunrise and sunset from the engine's own solar geometry. Source: OpenEI URDB rate record.

Model commercial-quote-3.0Inputs SHA-256 431cce84303cSolve time measuring on this deviceMax hourly imbalance 2.8e−14 kW

Result20-yr horizon · 7.0% nominal discount rate · 1.66%/yr utility escalation · vs utility-only baseline

NPV savings

$856.2k

vs utility only

20-yr · 7.0% nominal

Site energy cost

$0.286/kWh

vs utility only $0.376/kWh

20-yr levelized · nominal

Simple payback

5.5yr

on $857.9k installed

no incentive applied

Year-one bill

$138.3k

vs utility only $298.7k

energy + demand + fixed

Peak demand

159.2kW

vs utility only 225 kW

highest monthly peak · year one

Supplied on site

56.8%

of 900 MWh load

year one · solar + storage

01 / Quote Studio

A quote an engineer can audit.

A commercial quote on a real tariff: every hour of the year dispatched, then carried through 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-year economics against the utility-only bill. The Honolulu case above opens in it.

Tariff: Flat or time-of-use energy rates, monthly demand charges (one rate or twelve), fixed and export charges, utility escalation.
Load: A synthetic commercial shape scaled to annual kWh, or your own year of 15-, 30- or 60-minute interval data as CSV.
Energy mix: Solar, storage, wind, gas and diesel fleets, grid charging, generator policy and an outage reserve.
Pricing: A cost-plus builder: line items, contingency, and markup on cost or gross margin on price.
Financing: Cash, loan, or lease with an end-of-term buyout. An incentive is a number you enter; none is assumed.
Outputs: Build proposal (print to PDF), annual cash-flow CSV, CSV 8,760 h and an editable JSON quote.

Build a quote

02 / Modeler

Size it. Stress it. Show the working.

The Modeler takes the questions a quote leaves out: least-cost sizing, off-grid design, outage survival and weather risk. The island resort above is its opening design.

Sizing: A deterministic least-NPC search over solar, storage, generator and wind, across all four dispatch policies. Robust planning re-tests finalists under adverse cases.
Dispatch: Load-following, cycle-charging, diesel-first and SOC-maintaining controllers over 8,760 hours.
Grid or off-grid: Import a URDB tariff JSON with tiers, TOU and demand charges, or design with no grid at all.
Resilience: Outage survival from every start hour of the year. Expert mode adds seeded component failure and repair with the four NPS resilience measures.
Weather risk: Ten historical NSRDB years, or your own 8,760-hour file, run through the same design.
Cross-check: Run REopt V3 sizing through the NLR API and read it beside the local result.

Open the ModelerExports: hourly CSV, run package (JSON), cash-flow CSV, share link.

03 / Calculators

Start with one question.

Single-answer tools for a first look at a roof, a rate or a location. Each names its data source.

04 / Evidence

Nothing decorates. Everything measures.

Every figure states its basis and carries a provenance line: model version, inputs SHA-256, solve time on this device and the largest hourly imbalance. What has not been validated says so.

05 / API

The same engine over HTTP.

POST a benchmark key or your own 8,760-hour project; get back results, economics and an input fingerprint. Open beta: no key, 20 requests a minute, no SLA.

curl -X POST https://www.microgridmodeler.com/api/v1/simulate \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"benchmarkKey": "island-resort"}'

Read the API docs openapi.json

06 / Who it is for

One engine. Five ways in.

Pick the question you have today. Every path ends on the same hourly model.

Business
Price solar and storage on your own tariff, with a proposal your finance team can check.
Build a quote
Engineer & developer
Size an off-grid or grid-tied microgrid, then stress it with outages and weather years.
Open the Modeler
Homeowner
A ZIP code and a monthly bill give a size, a cost and a payback.
Get a quick answer
Utility & researcher
Read the equations and sources, or call the engine over HTTP.
Read the methodology
Partner
Equipment makers and website partners: help shape how your technology is modeled.
Talk to us

07 / Questions

Asked, and answered plainly.

The short version of what the model does, where its inputs come from and what it does not claim.

What is MicrogridModeler?: A microgrid modeling instrument that runs in your browser. It dispatches solar, wind, storage, gas and diesel generators and the grid hour by hour across a full year (8,760 hours), then carries the results through lifecycle economics. There are two tools: the Quote Studio, for a commercial quote on a utility tariff, and the Modeler, for least-cost sizing, off-grid design and resilience.
Who is it for?: Developers, EPCs and consultants pricing commercial solar and storage use the Quote Studio. Engineers sizing off-grid or grid-tied microgrids use the Modeler. Homeowners get a quick answer from the calculators with a ZIP code and a monthly bill. Utility engineers and researchers can read the methodology and call the simulation API.
Where do the inputs come from?: The commercial reference cases cite their utility tariff by OpenEI URDB record and effective date, and scale a synthetic hourly solar shape to the PVWatts annual yield from NLR (formerly NREL). Off-grid benchmark sites generate a synthetic solar year from NASA POWER monthly climatology. Unit costs default to NLR ATB and REopt values. Every input stays editable, and synthetic data is labelled as synthetic.
Are the results reproducible?: Yes. The engine is deterministic: synthetic weather and failure runs use explicit seeds, so the same inputs give the same outputs. Figures carry the model version, a SHA-256 hash of the inputs, the solve time measured on your device and the largest hourly energy imbalance.
Are incentives or tax credits included?: Not automatically. In the Quote Studio an incentive is a number you enter, received at year zero, with no eligibility assumption. In the Modeler the federal investment credit is a slider you set. The reference cases on this page carry no incentive.
Has the engine been validated against REopt or HOMER?: Not with published cross-engine results yet. The 20 benchmark projects are reference cases, not independent validation. Dispatch controllers and resilience measures follow the NPS Microgrid Planner v3.1, and the methodology documents that audit. For your own project, the Modeler can run REopt V3 sizing beside its local result.
Do I need an account?: No. Both tools are free during early access and there are no accounts. Projects are kept in your browser; export a JSON file to move or share one, or copy a Modeler share link.
Is there an API?: Yes, in open beta: POST /api/v1/simulate runs a benchmark or your own 8,760-hour project and returns results, economics and an input fingerprint. It needs no key, is limited to 20 requests a minute and has no SLA. The OpenAPI description is at /openapi.json.