System Advisor Model (SAM)

Introduction Slides and Demo

Nate Blair
NREL
NREL System Modeling Tools

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System Advisor Model (SAM) System Advisor Model

Free software that enables detailed performance and financial

analysis for renewable energy systems

http://sam.nrel.gov/download
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Steps to Modeling Renewable Energy

Weather Data Costs

System Specs Compensation

System Losses Financing

Electricity
Incentives
Production

Results
Annual, Monthly, and Hourly Output, LCOE, NPV, Payback, Revenue, Capacity Factor

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Technologies
Photovoltaics
Detailed &
PVWatts Battery
Storage
Wind
Concentrating solar power
Geothermal
Biomass
Solar water heating

Financial Models
Behind-the-meter
residential
commercial
third-party ownership
Power purchase
agreements
single owner
equity flips
sale-leaseback
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What can you do with SAM? System Advisor Model

• Model a variety of technologies in a consistent

platform
• Access high-quality performance and economic
models developed by NREL, Sandia, and other
partners
• Calculate financial metrics such as LCOE, NPV,
payback for projects in different markets
• Perform parametric and uncertainty analyses
• View and export modeling results in a variety of
ways
• Access extensive help documentation, view tutorials
and webinars
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Who uses SAM? Why? System Advisor Model

• Lawmakers and Utilities

… to study how a policy would affect the economics of a typical
system
… to analyze different types of utility rate structures for renewables
• Developers and Engineers
… to compare technologies, sites, or configurations
… to estimate the Levelized Cost of Energy for a system
• Researchers
… to examine how an innovative concept might be able to lower
the Levelized Cost of Energy
… to estimate the technical potential of a technology in a region
• Students
… to learn about renewable energy
… to explore financing structures for renewable energy

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SAM Users System Advisor Model

Over 65,000 registered users in 130+ countries

SAM is started ~every 2 ½ minutes ( > 600 times per
day) 90+ webinars with 113,346 views

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 How to Interact with the SAM team and get help?
• Website – http://sam.nrel.gov
o Support Forum – Ask your question!
o General info/ online help file / contact info
• YouTube Channel
o https://www.youtube.com/user/SAMDemoVideos
o All prior webinars and seminars
• Bi-Monthly Round Table sessions
o SAM team asks questions live and interactively
• Email Support
o SAM support can provide email support if
question/bug is involved

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 Battery Model

• Designed primarily for behind-the-meter analysis

(residential and commercial scale systems)

• Lithium ion and lead acid chemistries including

submodels
for cell voltage, capacity, thermal, degradation, and
replacements

• Highly configurable manual dispatch controller

• Integrated with PV system lifetime analysis to

capture
economic effects of capacity degradation and costs of
replacement

• Incentives, complex utility tariff structures, and financing

costs included in analysis.

• Validated with laboratory measured test data for two

systems.

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 3D shading calculator

• Fully integrated into SAM

• Calculates linear beam shading losses and sky

diffuse view factor loss

• Imports 2D mapping underlays from Bing maps

• Diurnal or hourly/subhourly time series shade

simulation

• Estimation of nonlinear losses for shaded

parallel strings

• Scripting to automate panel layout and

import/export geometry data

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 Detailed photovoltaic model
Irradiance
Transposition using Isotropic, HDKR, or Perez
Measured plane of array (POA) input
Shading
Irregular obstruction shading from 3D scene
Self-shading for regularly spaced rows
External input from SunEye, Solar Pathfinder
Snow cover loss model
Module
Simple efficiency
model
Single diode model (CEC database or
datasheet) Extended single diode model (for IEC-
61853 tests) Sandia PV Array Performance Model
Inverter
Sandia/CEC grid-tied inverter
model Datasheet part-load
efficiency curve
System
Sizing wizard or electrical
layout Multiple subarrays
Fixed, 1 axis, backtracking,
azimuth axis, 2 axis
Battery storage
Degradation
Extrapolated single year
Lifetime simulation of all years
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New complex utility rate model options
Additional net metering options have been added and implemented to help users
understand the impact of different scenarios currently implemented in several states.

New data browser categorizes and consolidates results.

Linkage with OpenEI rate database improved and expanded for some international rates.

http://www.openei.org

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Several ways to enter building load data

• Load profile in a
file that can be
scaled for
monthly values.

• Use data about

the building to
create load data
with consistent
weather data

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 Extending SAM

• Desktop Application
• Advanced Analysis Features
o Parametric
o Stochastic (and for O&M)
o P50/P90
• Built-in Scripting Language
• Macros

SAM project file  Code

o Written with SAM scripting language
• Software Development Kit (SDK)
inputs outputs
o C/C++, Python, C#, Java
o Matlab, VBA SAM Simulation Core (SSC)
o PHP

K
SD
o iOS And Android (NEW!!!) PV CSP SWH Financials

C/C++ Python MATLAB .NET Java

• Web Services API (PVWatts Only)

• Open-sourced SAM code (NEW!!!) External applications

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 SAM Demonstration

(Additional Detail Slides Follow)

What kinds of things can you do with SAM open-source?

Transparency
• Look at the underlying code of a model that you are
interested in.
Flexibility
• Change the way a model works for research purposes
• Change electricity rate models to be specific to your
country
Collaboration
• Add new technology models
• Add a new battery dispatch model

We’d love to learn how you use SAM’s open-source code! It

helps us tailor our efforts and get funding to develop the tool.
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 SAM Code Architecture

SAM Graphical User Interface.

Core SAM
code Technology model libraries.
SSC
Contains SAM SDK.

WEX Custom widgets for SAM,

NREL libraries contains DView project
LK Scripting support

wxWidgets wxWidgets 3.1.0, GUI framework

Development
dependencies Visual Studio 2013, GCC 4.8.5
C++ Compiler
minimum, libc 2.17
Operating System
Windows, OSX, Linux (CentOS 7,
Ubuntu 16.04, Fedora 25, Mint
18.2)

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 Thank you! Questions?
Janine Freeman - project lead, photovoltaic and wind models
Nick DiOrio - code architecture, battery storage models
Nate Blair - emeritus lead, financials, costs, systems
Steve Janzou - programming, utility rate structures (subcontractor)
Paul Gilman - user support and documentation (subcontractor)
Ty Neises - concentrating solar power models
Mike Wagner - concentrating solar power
models

http://sam.nrel.gov
 Lifetime Analysis

In this mode, PV system degradation is (correctly) applied to the DC output of the PV modules, and so can
be
used to assess inverter clipping levels as the system effective sizing ratio changes in time.

DC power
AC
power

(30 years)

When the system is new, much more DC power is generated than inverter capacity, resulting in significant
clipping. As the modules degrade and produce less power, clipping is reduced in the later years of the
system

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