diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 9417368a246480426829bbd87f1ddbc50a2eebbf..2ef86fa02cc67125b2772f99f6c1738d6a546c87 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -4,6 +4,14 @@ CHANGELOG
 
 .. start-here
 
+1.1.x
+============
+
+* Release date:
+* Changes and new features:
+
+  * Add additional names for the time variable
+
 1.1.8
 ============
 
@@ -14,6 +22,7 @@ CHANGELOG
   * Rename project from NES to nes
 
 
+
 1.1.7.post2
 ============
 
diff --git a/nes/nc_projections/default_nes.py b/nes/nc_projections/default_nes.py
index 5e49e273e82eef1441bb1298fae2b77cd9dd9f60..a5533e42da531e4eecc68b7e9c35a3bde7aaa116 100644
--- a/nes/nc_projections/default_nes.py
+++ b/nes/nc_projections/default_nes.py
@@ -2230,8 +2230,18 @@ class Nes(object):
         time : List[datetime]
             List of times (datetime) of the NetCDF data.
         """
+        time_var_name = "time"
         if self.master:
-            nc_var = self.dataset.variables["time"]
+            try:
+                nc_var = self.dataset.variables["time"]
+            except KeyError:
+                nc_variable_names = self.dataset.variables.keys()
+                # Accepted name options for the time variable
+                accepted_time_names = ["TIME", "valid_time"]
+                # Get name of the time variable of the dataset
+                time_var_name = list(set(nc_variable_names).intersection(set(accepted_time_names)))[0]
+                nc_var = self.dataset.variables[time_var_name]
+
             time_data, units, calendar = self.__parse_time(nc_var)
             # Extracting time resolution depending on the units
             self._time_resolution = self.__get_time_resolution_from_units(units)
@@ -2243,7 +2253,8 @@ class Nes(object):
             time = [datetime(year=dt.year, month=dt.month, day=dt.day, hour=dt.hour, minute=dt.minute) for dt in time]
         else:
             time = None
-        self.free_vars("time")
+        # Free the time variable
+        self.free_vars(time_var_name)
 
         return time