RETScreen

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RETScreen
Developer(s) Multiple
Initial release April 30, 1998; 25 years ago (1998-04-30)
Stable release Suite
Platform Windows
Available in 36 languages
Type Application
Website RETScreen.net

The RETScreen Clean Energy Management Software (usually shortened to RETScreen) is a free clean energy software package developed by the Government of Canada that includes RETScreen Version 4 and RETScreen Plus.

RETScreen 4 is a Excel-based clean energy project analysis software tool that helps decision makers determine the technical and financial viability of potential renewable energy, energy efficiency and cogeneration (combined heat & power) projects. Conventional energy projects can also be modeled and compared to cleaner alternatives. Users conduct a five step analysis, including energy analysis, cost analysis, emission analysis, financial analysis, and sensitivity/risk analysis.

RETScreen Plus is a Windows-based energy management software tool that allows project owners to verify the ongoing energy performance of their facilities.

RETScreen Expert, currently under development, is an advanced new version of the RETScreen software and is expected to allow users to evaluate energy investments over an entire project life-cycle (including benchmarking, feasibility and performance analysis) in a fully integrated fashion, and within one software platform.

The software integrates a number of databases to assist the user, including a global database of climatic conditions obtained from 6,700 ground-based stations and NASA's satellite data; benchmark database; project database; hydrology database and product database.[1] The software also includes clean energy policy & legal toolkits, as well as a large amount of multilingual and multimedia free training material, including an electronic textbook.[2]

History

The first version of RETScreen was released on 30 April 1998. RETScreen Version 4 was launched on 11 December 2007 at Bali, Indonesia by Canada's Minister of the Environment.[3] RETScreen Plus was released in 2011[4] and the current version, RETScreen Suite (integrating RETScreen 4 and RETScreen Plus with numerous additional upgrades), was released in 2012.[5] RETScreen Expert is due for initial release in Q2 of 2016.[6]

Program requirements

The program requires the use of Microsoft® Excel 2003 or higher; Microsoft® Windows XP or higher; and Microsoft® .NET Framework 4 or higher (note that the Full Profile version must be installed, not just the Microsoft® .NET Framework 4 Client Profile version.)[7] It is possible for the program to work on Apple Macintosh computers using Parallels or VirtualBox for Mac.[8] RETScreen Plus is Windows-based and independent of Microsoft Excel. RETScreen Expert will also be Windows-based and independent of Microsoft Excel.

Partners

RETScreen is managed under the leadership and ongoing financial support of the CanmetENERGY Varennes Research Centre of Natural Resources Canada, a department of the Government of Canada. The core team[9] leverages collaboration with a number of other government and multilateral organisations, with technical support from a large network of experts from industry, government and academia.[10] Principal partners include NASA's Langley Research Center,[11] the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP),[12] Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO),[13] UNEP's Energy Unit of the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics,[14] the Global Environment Facility (GEF),[15] the World Bank's Prototype Carbon Fund,[16] and York University's Sustainable Energy Initiative.[17]

Examples of use

As of January 2016, the RETScreen software had more than 460,000 users in 222 countries and territories worldwide.[18]

An independent impact study commissioned in 2004[19] estimated that by 2013, the use of the RETScreen software had been responsible, worldwide, for over $8 billion in user transaction cost savings, 20 MT per year of greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and has enabled at least 24 GW of installed clean energy capacity.

RETScreen is widely used to facilitate and implement clean energy projects. For example, RETScreen has been used:

  • to retrofit the Empire State Building with energy efficiency measures[20]
  • extensively by the Irish wind industry to analyze potential new projects[21]
  • by Manitoba Hydro's combined heat & power (bioenergy optimization) program to screen project applications[22][23]
  • in a multi-year assessment and evaluation of photovoltaic performance in Toronto, Canada[24][25]
  • to analyze solar air heating at U.S. Air Force installations[26]
  • to identify opportunities for energy efficiency retrofits in various Ontario municipalities.[27]

An extensive collection of articles detailing how RETScreen has been used in different contexts is available on the RETScreen website.[28]

RETScreen is also used as a teaching and research tool by well-over 700 universities and colleges worldwide, and is frequently cited in academic literature.[29] Examples of RETScreen's use in academia can be found under the “Publications and Reports” and "University and College Courses" sections of the RETScreen Clean Energy Bulletin.[30]

The use of RETScreen is mandated or recommended by clean energy incentive programs at all levels of government worldwide, including the UNFCCC and the EU; Canada, New Zealand and the UK; numerous American states and Canadian provinces; cities and municipalities; and utilities.[31] National and regional RETScreen training workshops have been conducted upon the official request of the Governments of Chile,[32] Saudi Arabia,[33] and 15 countries in West and Central Africa.[34]

Awards and recognition

In 2010, RETScreen International was awarded the Public Service Award of Excellence,[35] the highest award given by the Canadian government to its civil servants.

RETScreen and the RETScreen team have been nominated for and received numerous other prestigious awards including the Ernst & Young/Euromoney Global Renewable Energy Award, Energy Globe (National Award for Canada), and the GTEC Distinction Award Medal.[36]

Reviews

An International Energy Agency review of the beta release of the hydropower part of the software described it as "very impressive".[37] The European Environment Agency asserts that RETScreen an "extremely useful tool."[38] RETScreen has also been called "one of the few software tools, and by far the best, available for evaluating the economics of renewable energy installations"[39] and "a tool to enhance... market coherence" in clean energy worldwide.[40]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/researchernews/rn_RETscreen.html
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ http://news.gc.ca/web/article-eng.do?crtr.sj1D=&mthd=advSrch&crtr.mnthndVl=12&nid=367259&crtr.dpt1D=&crtr.tp1D=&crtr.lc1D=&crtr.yrStrtVl=2007&crtr.kw=&crtr.dyStrtVl=10&crtr.aud1D=&crtr.mnthStrtVl=12&crtr.yrndVl=2007&crtr.dyndVl=11
  4. ↑ http://www.reeep.org/news/retscreen-adds-energy-performance-analysis-module
  5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150715020812/http://www.retscreen.net/ang/news_20120605_major_upgrade_to_retscreen_software.php
  6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150702003434/http://www.retscreen.net/ang/coming_soon_retscreen_expert_software.php
  7. ↑ http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/software-tools/7465
  8. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150714225457/http://www.retscreen.net/ang/general.php
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ http://power.larc.nasa.gov/
  12. ↑ http://www.reeep.org/
  13. ↑ http://www.ieso.ca/
  14. ↑ http://www.unep.org/dtie/Branches/Energy/tabid/29686/Default.aspx
  15. ↑ http://www.thegef.org
  16. ↑ https://wbcarbonfinance.org/Router.cfm?Page=PCF&ItemID=9707&FID=9707
  17. ↑ http://sei.info.yorku.ca/
  18. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150920024148/http://www.retscreen.net/popup.php?id=10248&tcopy=&alt=RETScreen+Software:+Cumulative+Growth+of+User+Base&titre=
  19. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150926214355/http://www.retscreen.net/ang/impact.php
  20. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150511122318/http://www.retscreen.net/fichier.php/2009/Energy%20Performance%20Contracting.pdf
  21. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20140806110237/http://www.retscreen.net/fichier.php/2007/Wind%20Power%20&%20Biomass%20District%20Heating%20Projects.pdf
  22. ↑ http://www.hydro.mb.ca/your_business/bioenergy_optimization/index.shtml
  23. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150511122318/http://www.retscreen.net/fichier.php/2008/Manitoba%20Hydro%E2%80%99s%20Biomass%20Optimization%20Program.pdf
  24. ↑ http://www.explace.on.ca/database/rte/TAF_HorsePalace_web.pdf
  25. ↑ http://www.solarcitypartnership.ca/solarfiles/HorsePalace-updatereport.pdf
  26. ↑ http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA500580
  27. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150511122455/http://www.retscreen.net/links/policy_association_of_municipalities_of_ontario_audit_program.html
  28. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160112221923/http://www.retscreen.net/ang/news.php
  29. ↑ For example, a Google Scholar search for RETScreen on 24 February 2016 yielded over 3,600 results.
  30. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160112221923/http://www.retscreen.net/ang/news.php
  31. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20151005075149/http://www.retscreen.net/ang/clean_energy_policy_analysis.php
  32. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150714213530/http://www.retscreen.net/ang/news_20140107_cer_chile_implements_retscreen_training_program.php
  33. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150714204723/http://www.retscreen.net/ang/news_20130717_saudi_arabia_builds_clean_energy_capacity.php
  34. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150714225224/http://www.retscreen.net/ang/news_20130808_strengthening_foundations_clean_energy_west_africa.php
  35. ↑ http://www.ottawacitizen.com/pdf/psae-booklet-2010.pdf
  36. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150509231104/http://www.retscreen.net/ang/awards.php
  37. ↑ "Assessment methods for small hydro projects"
  38. ↑ http://www.environmenttools.co.uk/directory/tool/name/retscreen-clean-energy-project-analysis-software/id/563
  39. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150510051609/http://www.retscreen.net/fichier.php/623/Rapport_Impact.pdf
  40. ↑ http://www.retscreen.net/fichier.php/623/Rapport_Impact.pdf

External links

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