A short XENDEE pdf brochure can be found here.

XENDEE leads the industry in providing a powerful and accurate Microgrid, Minigrid, and Distributed Energy Resources design and implementation tool that optimizes selection, sizing, dispatch, and placement of technologies in addition to power flow analyses.

The XENDEE website and all of its services can be accessed and used via any modern web browser on a smart-phone, tablet or PC and does not require any plug-in technologies.

XENDEE makes microgrid design and planning fast and easy, reducing the soft costs associated with projects. Users indicate a range of technologies for XENDEE to select from, and the results provide users with the best combination of investment decisions and operation scheduling to help clients achieve their goal, whether it be resiliency through frequent outages, cost reduction, CO2 emissions reduction, or more. These Investment choices are coupled to detailed technical power flow analyses, possible within the XENDEE platform. Following the conceptual detailed and technical design, including quasi-steady state and dynamic time-serious power flow analyses, the XENDEE platform offers implementation/project management of the resources to reduce the costs associated with building Microgrids, Minigrids, and Distributed Energy Resource projects. XENDEE is the only platform worldwide modeling real microgrid controller dispatch via optimization techniques. With its emphasis on delivering accurate and swift microgrid configurations, power flow analyses, and dedicated project management support, XENDEE is ushering in a new era of confidence in Microgrid, Minigrid, and Distributed Energy Resources investment decisions.

XENDEE features three major functionalities in one platform:

The XENDEE platform allows new users to begin modeling within minutes via its new Graphical User Interface (GUI). A well-organized layout gives users the ability to quickly navigate between existing projects and generate new models. A drop-down table layout with clearly defined table and input names allows users to easily familiarize themselves with the modeling software. Demo cases with predefined inputs are available for instant results on cases such as an Islanded Microgrid with PV and Electric Stationary Storage technologies enabled to meet an electricity-only load. Pop-up helpfiles are available directly on the interface for quick reference, and tutorial videos and full guides on input and variable interaction are available for more in-depth understanding.

• GIS integrated capabilities with Google Maps
• Easy and Fun Drag-And-Drop Microgrid Topology Design
• Automated Microgrid Design at Industry Leading Speed
• Action List Tracking Alerts Users of Remaining Input
• Assess Microgrid Design based on Geographic Constraints
• Built-In Tariff and Technology Catalogs
• Simple Project Definition via Option Toggles
• Share Projects and Results with Other Users
• Multi-Objective mixed integer linear program to identify optimal solution to user-defined objective functions
  • Minimize Total Annual Energy Cost
  • Minimize Total Annual CO2 Emissions
  • Minimize a weighted combination of Total Annual Energy Cost and Total Annual CO2 Emissions
• Modeling resolution: < 1 seconds to 1-hour timestep over the course of a full year.

For experienced users we offer the expert mode, which expands the modeling features offered by the Streamlined Modeling Interface and allows users to define more complex and detailed scenarios, such as Net Metering utility programs, Zero Net Energy Buildings, and load shifting or outage curtailment. This expert mode allows modeling all details and turning-on/turning-off optimization constraints. Automated data processing and reporting enhance the expert interface created to balance the complexity of detailed modeling in the Expert Mode with a User-Friendly design.

XENDEE is the best microgrid modeling tool to optimize the hourly dispatch of all energy sources, as well as the possibilities for load shifting, demand response, and curtailment. The interplay between optimal sizing and optimal dispatch is often disregarded in modeling tools. XENDEE simultaneously determines an optimal DER portfolio and optimal dispatch schedules by including hourly dispatch as a key decision variable, capturing crucial interactions between parameters such as technology efficiencies, fuel prices, utility rates, charging and discharging rates, and irradiance profiles that are missed by rule-based approaches to technology dispatch. Optimizing hourly dispatch identifies the best opportunities for demand charge and energy charge reduction. The automatically generated dispatch curves help users see how the interactions between technologies and the utility bring the most benefit to the client.

XENDEE quickly identifies the optimal DER portfolio for custom-built, site-specific projects. Design microgrids that are resilient and low-cost, without the hassle of repeating dozens of analyses with different DER combinations. The user indicates the range of technologies that are being considered for the project, and XENDEE pinpoints which technologies will provide the technically and economically optimal solution. The interplay between the technical and economic characteristics of DERs, as well as the hourly dispatch optimization, determines the best mix of technologies to meet the needs of the project without unnecessary oversizing.

Custom, Optimized DER Portfolios

• Least-cost solutions for increased resilience
• Lower emissions and meet regulatory standards
• Tailored, site-specific analysis to maximize return on DER investments

Node-by-node, technology-by-technology modeling for:

• Free Selection and Sizing
• Minimum Capacity for Investment
• Fixed Capacity for Investment
• Existing Capacity

Through seamless integration with our Power Systems modeling tool, microgrid configuration uses power flow models to optimize technology siting for multiple units. Optimal placement and dispatch reduce losses, resulting in a solution that incorporates least cost operation of on-site technologies. Create the microgrid topology using the one-line diagram building tool. Seamless integration between the power flow analysis feature and the optimization feature automatically updates your microgrid design optimization project with cable and transformer data and facilitates swift analysis for multinode microgrid configurations.

For complete accuracy in modeling energy domains, XENDEE characterizes loads as multiple end-uses. XENDEE identifies opportunities for increased efficiency and reduced costs through heat recovery with a comprehensive approach to thermal technologies. Thermal loads can be met by a complete host of sources, including CHP-enabled discrete technologies. Losses are fully accounted for, and Electric Vehicles are considered as a source of electricity storage and dispatch. This modeling is based on the Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM) from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. BankableEnergy | XENDEE is the only industrial provider of DER-CAM, which offers support and integration of techno-economic optimization, power flow, and project management capabilities in one single software platform.

Energy Domains

• Electricity
• Space-heating
• Water-heating
• Cooling
• Refrigeration
• Fuels
• Transportation (EVs)
• Losses

For more information on the academic DER-CAM please refer to Building-Microgrid at LBNL.

XENDEE considers more value streams through microgrid adoption than any other modeling software. Through consideration of opportunities for increasing efficiency, increasing reliability and resiliency, and reducing utility, operations, and maintenance costs, XENDEE designs microgrids that are configured to take advantage of all possible avenues to cost reduction.

Savings Incurred

• Demand Charge Reduction
• Energy Charge Reduction
• Reduction in Lost Energy through Microgrid Configuration
• Added Value through Modeled Reliability Services
• Carbon Tax Reduction

Revenue from Export of On-Site Generation

• Renewable DER Sales
• Nonrenewable DER Sales
• Battery Energy Storage Sales
• Net Metering
• Market Participation

Incentives

• Feed-in Tariffs
• SGIP-Based Incentive Structure
• Ancillary Services

Other revenue streams can be easily modelled via the Expert mode of XENDEE.

XENDEE’s advanced energy management modeling incorporates load shifting and demand response into the value stream calculations. The resiliency modeling optimizes the mini-grid for fight-through capability at minimum costs. While other providers decouple the decision-making for technology sizing from the outage modeling, XENDEE incorporates both into the optimizer, thereby ensuring that resiliency is a key variable in microgrid configuration. Optimal solutions are simultaneously driven by resiliency and cost factors, keeping the lights on and keeping the costs low.

Energy Management

• Load Shifting
• Electric Demand Response for low, medium, and high critical loads
• Thermal Demand Response for low, medium, and high critical loads
• Value of Reduced Load
• Maximum duration of demand response
• Directly Controllable Electric Loads
• Directly Controllable Thermal Loads
• Critical load
• Schedulable load
• Zero Net Energy Building
• Minimum and Maximum Annual DER Generation
• Minimum Renewable On-Site Generation

Resiliency

• Customized Outage Events and Lengths
• Option to Build Custom Load Profiles for Duration of Outage Events
• Electric Load Curtailment for low, medium, and high critical loads
• Thermal Load Curtailment for low, medium, and high critical loads
• Value of Lost Load
• Maximum duration of curtailment

XENDEE leads the industry in modeling a full suite of DER technologies, both conventional and renewable. Users can customize the technical specifications to best model the technologies being considered. Specify the fuel type, efficiency, minimum operating load, and more for 50 conventional units, including internal combustion engines, microturbines, and fuel cells. Enable CHP modeling for any conventional technologies to gain the best advantage of meeting both electric and thermal loads. Select from over 100 models of wind turbines, multiple PV array mount installation types, and set the charging and discharging efficiency of electric stationary storage. The technical customization is endless and will guarantee accurate results to represent your project.

Discrete Technologies: Conventional Generation and Fuel Cells

• Internal combustion engine
• Gas (combustion) turbine
• Microturbine
• Fuel cell
• CHP-Enabling for all discrete technologies

Renewables

• Solar PV
• Wind turbine

Storage

• Electric storage
• Flow battery
• Electric Vehicle

Thermal Technologies

• Thermal storage
• Heat pump
• Solar thermal
• Boiler
• Water heater
• Direct-fired chiller
• Absorption chiller
• Biomass Boilers

HVACR

Inverters

• Electric Stationary Storage Inverter (non-linear modeling of efficiency curves is possible)
• PV Inverter (non-linear modeling of efficiency curves is possible)

Additional/Ancilliary Equipment

• Refrigeration Units
• Switching Equipment (for islanding)

Investment Parameters

• Variable installation costs
• One-time fixed installation costs per unit
• Variable Operations and Maintenance costs
• Fixed Operations and Maintenance costs

Technical Parameters

• Lifetime and age of technologies
• Rated Capacity
• Fuel used by discrete technologies (natural gas, diesel, biodiesel, or custom user-defined)
• Sprint capacity and operating limitation
• Efficiency
• Heat-to-Power Ratio for CHP-enabled technologies
• NOx Emissions Rate

XENDEE is the only platform which also allows modeling of energy transfer between days and seasons, which is important for e.g. seasonal storage.

XENDEE offers a comprehensive suite of data catalogs for easy selection, importing, and processing. The user-indicated project location automatically updates both the load catalog and the site weather catalog selections for accurate modeling of the effects of locational and seasonal variations on PV and solar thermal performance. Hourly wind power performance calculated for a selection of over 100 models of wind turbines, using vendor-sourced information, gives you the edge you need in replicating the performance of market-available wind turbines.

Flexible load import and processing tools allow users to build load profiles for five separate end-uses by importing custom 8760 load profiles, selecting from an internal library of location-based load profiles for 16 commercial building types, or importing Green Button data.

Worldwide Site Weather Catalog Data

• TMY3
• Extensive data site-specific to the location of your project
• Based on historical averages over several decades
• Catalog data automatically updates project inputs for:
  • PV System Rated Efficiency
  • Hourly PV System Performance
  • Hourly Solar Thermal Performance
  • Hourly Ambient Temperature
• Solar Irradiance for PV System Performance
• Solar Irradiance for Solar Thermal

Load Catalog Data

• EnergyPlus Load Profiles
• US Commercial Building Types
• Multiple load profiles for each ASHRAE Climate Zone
  • Variations in end-use load specific to TMY3 locations

Location-Based Data

• Wind Power Performance for over 100 Wind Turbine Models
• Solar Irradiance for PV System Performance
• Solar Irradiance for Solar Thermal processed
• End-use loads for US commercial building types
• Worldwide ambient Hourly Temperature TMY3 data
• Utility Tariff Schedules Specific to Building Load and Type*
• Vendor Costs and Technical Specifications for Technologies*
• Seasonal Fuel Prices for Diesel, Natural Gas, and Biofuel*
• Optional User-Generated Catalog Data for Technologies and Tariffs
• Loss of Load Value Data Specific to Building Load, Type, and Curtailment Length*

Data Import and Processing

• Auto-Processing for Load Data
  • Import tool for full-year load data at hourly, 30-minute, or 15-minute resolution
  • Import tool for Green Button data file
  • EnergyPlus Load Catalog data
• Auto-Processing for TMY3 irradiance and ambient hourly temperature
• Tabulated and graphical visualization of inputs for easy checking

*Coming Soon

XENDEE incorporates utility charges to optimize decision making for technology investment and dispatch by identifying least cost, least CO2 emissions solutions on an hourly basis. Determine the suitability of technology options for your project as compared to current utility rates. Identify possible savings through energy purchase reduction by modeling all aspects of the microgrid interaction with the utility. Real-Time updating of our online catalog, combined with the GIS integration, automatically selects the tariff schedules specific to your project location.

Utility Charges

• Basic service fees
• Time of Use Rates: On Peak, Mid Peak, Off Peak
• Real-Time Pricing
• Daily Demand Charges: Noncoincident, Coincident, On Peak, Mid Peak, Off Peak
• Monthly Demand Charges: Noncoincident, Coincident, On Peak, Mid Peak, Off Peak
• Seasonal time-of-use variation in rates
• Net Metering
• Monthly Natural Gas Rates
• CO2 Taxes based on Marginal CO2 Emissions
• Standby Charge
• Contract Demand Charge

Bankable Energy | XENDEE understands the variability inherent in planning a microgrid, whether it may arise from fluctuating costs, variations in solar irradiance, or uncertainties surrounding the historical load data used for modeling. Our sensitivity analysis tool addresses the need to run several cases for sensitivity analysis by allowing users to select the sensitivity analysis to run. With the click of a button, user defined analyses vary the reference input that you need to model sensitivity around.

(Enlarge movie for best quality)

Existing Sensitivity Analyses can Include

• Capital Cost value for all DERs
• Fuel Prices (user selects fuel type)
• PV Variable Installation Costs
• Electric Storage Variable Installation Costs
• Varying demand for loads across all end-uses
• Outage length
• Outage timing
• Technology Selection Options
• etc.

XENDEE’s automated reporting reduces soft costs associated with results analysis, and streamlines result interpretation with organized tabulated summaries of cost and CO2 emission results that are designed to instantly communicate the feasibility of projects. View graphical and tabulated results on optimal installed capacities, capital expenditures, return on investment, and more. Hourly dispatch curves across all day types, months, and end-uses demonstrate the benefit of solving for optimal dispatch. The note-taking tool and the compare inputs tool provide an easy method to quickly identify changes in inputs between results and to document analyses as they progress.

Tabulated and Graphical Representation of Results

• Table of Summarized Costs and Emissions
• Annualized Energy Costs
• Yearly Investments and Operational Costs
• Return on Investments
• Total Annual Electricity Balance: Full Representation of Production of Energy from All Sources
• Utility Balance Chart: Purchases and Sales From and To the Utility
• New Generation Technologies and Storage: Optimal Capacities
• New Investments: Capital Costs
• Dispatch Curves for All End Loads, Technologies, Day Types, and Months
• Etc.

Dispatch Curves

• Single Objective, Single Analysis Results Table/Graphs/Dispatch Curves
• Multi Objective, Multiple Results Table/Graphs/Dispatch Curves
• Single Objective, Sensitivity Analysis Results Table/Graphs/Dispatch Curves
• Etc.

File Export

• Configuration csv file with full inputs
• Full aggregated results csv file
• Full node-by-node results csv file