SCIENCE

The Rocky Mountain Supercomputing Centers introduces the M.O.R.E. POWER Initiative -- a new service that leverages on-demand supercomputing technology to help select the most efficient and productive sites or parks for renewable energy projects. Offered with support from the Montana Governor's Office of Economic Development, M.O.R.E. (Maximizing & Optimizing Renewable Energy) POWER reduces the financing and operating costs of wind and solar energy projects and accelerates their return on investment.

"M.O.R.E. POWER answers the 'where' question in green energy development by calculating which geographic location will result in the highest wind or solar energy production and the least variance in power generation," said Earl J. Dodd, RMSC executive director.

In a test case run against the operating parameters of four existing and operating wind farms totaling over 370 megawatts of capacity, RMSC applied its high performance computing (HPC) cloud technology to select alternate sites that would have generated 58 percent more electric power. More importantly, the superior power variance score for the alternate sites would have earned a reduction in bank financing equal to $25 million during the project development and construction phase.

"M.O.R.E. POWER was designed for renewable energy developers and investors, as well as state governments and regional energy authorities," said Dodd. "Once a wind or solar energy site has been built, this service also provides operational forecasts to maintain maximum efficiency of the facility, a park and even multiple parks geographically dispersed."

Headquartered in Butte, RMSC is a public-private partnership funded by Montana to drive economic development in the state by breaking down the barriers that have traditionally prevented small- to medium-sized enterprise (SMEs), government agencies and tribal businesses from leveraging the power of HPC.

The M.O.R.E. POWER solution utilizes a laser-communications network optimization model developed by Northrop Grumman and modified for wind and solar site selection. The solution also uses worldwide wind and solar radiation data collected by Northrop Grumman as historical bases for choosing the most productive alternative energy locations. RMSC integrates this data along with current meteorological information into the Northrop Grumman algorithm on its HPC Cloud platform to compare thousands of geographic and meteorological variables to select a new project site or maximize the efficiency of an existing one.

"This solution can reduce the cost of wind and solar power for electric customers and speed the permitting process to get alternative energy projects up and running faster," said Dodd. "This capability is helping Montana and the region become the renewable energy leaders in North America."