RETScreen

The RETScreen Software Suite (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.

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.

History

The first version of RETScreen was released on 30 April 1998.^[2] The current version (Version 4) was launched on 11 December 2007 at Bali, Indonesia by Canada's Minster of the Environment.^[3]  RETScreen Plus was released in 2011.^[4]  Currently under development is the next generation of the software, RETScreen Expert.^[5]

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.)^[6] It is possible for the program to work on Apple Macintosh computers using Parallels or VirtualBox for Mac.^[7] RETScreen Plus is Windows-based and independent of Microsoft Excel.

Partners

RETScreen is managed under the leadership and ongoing financial support of the CanmetENERGY research centre of Natural Resources Canada, a department of the Government of Canada. It is developed in collaboration with a number of other government and multilateral organisations, with technical support from a large network of experts from industry, government and academia. Principal partners include NASA's Langley Research Center,^[8] the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP),^[9] UNEP's Energy Unit of the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics,^[10] the Global Environment Facility (GEF),^[11] the World Bank's Prototype Carbon Fund,^[12] and York University's Sustainable Energy Initiative.^[13]

Examples of use

As of September 2013, the RETScreen software had more than 383,000 users in 222 countries and territories worldwide.^[14]

An independent impact study commissioned in 2004^[15] 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^[16]
• extensively by the Irish wind industry to analyze potential new projects^[17][18]
• by Manitoba Hydro's combined heat & power (bioenergy optimization) program to screen project applications^[19][20]
• in a multi-year assessment and evaluation of photovoltaic performance in Toronto, Canada^[21][22]
• to analyze solar air heating at U.S. Air Force installations^[23]
• to identify opportunities for energy efficiency retrofits in various Ontario municipalities.^[24]

RETScreen is also used as a teaching and research tool by universities and colleges worldwide, and is frequently cited in academic literature.^[25] Examples of its academic use are in an evaluation of the efficacy of policy instruments in supporting wind farm development in Argentina,^[26] an assessment of the wave energy potential of Turkey,^[27] a study on the techno-economic potential of concentrating solar power in India,^[28] the thermal performance of solar water heating in Canada,^[29] district heating network optimization in Estonia^[30] and solar water heating systems in China.^[31]

Awards and recognition

In 2010, RETScreen International was awarded the Public Service Award of Excellence,^[32] 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.^[33]

Reviews

An International Energy Agency review of the 1999 beta release of the hydropower part of the package described it as "very impressive".^[34] The European Environment Agency asserts that RETScreen an "extremely useful tool."^[35] 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"^[36] and "a tool to enhance... market coherence" in clean energy worldwide.^[37]

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.^[38][39]

See also

• Renewable Energy
• Energy management software

References

External links

• RETScreen Internationa l
• RETScreen users group on LinkedIn
• "What is RETScreen?"
• "Qu'est-ce que RETScreen?" (French)
• "؟RETScreen تعريف بـ" (Arabic)
• "RETScreen কী ?" (Bengali)
• "Какво е RETScreen?" (Bulgarian)
• "什么是RETScreen?" (Chinese)
• "Što je to RETScreen?" (Croatian)
• "Co je RETScreen?" (Czech)
• "Hvad er RETScreen?" (Danish)
• "Wat is RETScreen?" (Dutch)
• "چیست؟ RETScreen" (Farsi)
• "Mikä on RETScreen?" (Finnish)
• "Was ist RETScreen?" (German)
• "Τι είναι το λογισμικό RETScreen" (Greek)
• "RETScreen क्या है?" (Hindi)
• "Mi az a RETScreen?" (Hungarian)
• "Apakah RETScreen?" (Indonesian)
• "Cosa è RETScreen?" (Italian)
• "RETScreen とは？" (Japanese)
• "RETScreen 은 무엇인가?" (Korean)
• "Што е RETScreen?" (Macedonian)
• "Czym jest RETScreen?" (Polish)
• "O que é o RETScreen?" (Portuguese)
• "Ce este RETScreen?" (Romanian)
• "Что такое RETScreen?" (Russian)
• "Šta je RETScreen?" (Serbian)
• "¿Qué es RETScreen?" (Spanish)
• "RETScreen ni nini?" (Swahili)
• "Vad är RETScreen?" (Swedish)
• "Ano ang RETScreen?" (Tagalog)
• "RETScreen అంటే ఏమిటి?" (Telugu)
• "RETScreen คืออะไร" (Thai)
• "RETScreen nedir?" (Turkish)
• "Що таке RETScreen?" (Ukrainian)
• "کیا ہے؟ RETScreen" (Urdu)
• "RETScreen là gì?" (Vietnamese)