System Advisor Model (SAM)

Introduction and Getting Started

This document is a copy of one or more chapters from SAM's Help system. To see the Help system in SAM, click Help Contents on the Help menu, or press the F1 key (command-? in Mac OS) from any page in SAM.

Version 2011.12.2 Manual Release Date 12/7/2011

2011 National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The System Advisor Model ("Model") is provided by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory ("NREL"), which is operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC ("Alliance") for the U.S. Department Of Energy ("DOE") and may be used for any purpose whatsoever. The names DOE/NREL/ALLIANCE shall not be used in any representation, advertising, publicity or other manner whatsoever to endorse or promote any entity that adopts or uses the Model. DOE/NREL/ALLIANCE shall not provide any support, consulting, training or assistance of any kind with regard to the use of the Model or any updates, revisions or new versions of the Model. YOU AGREE TO INDEMNIFY DOE/NREL/ALLIANCE, AND ITS AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, AGENTS, AND EMPLOYEES AGAINST ANY CLAIM OR DEMAND, INCLUDING REASONABLE ATTORNEYS' FEES, RELATED TO YOUR USE, RELIANCE, OR ADOPTION OF THE MODEL FOR ANY PURPOSE WHATSOEVER. THE MODEL IS PROVIDED BY DOE/NREL/ALLIANCE "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL DOE/NREL/ALLIANCE BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO CLAIMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOSS OF DATA OR PROFITS, WHICH MAY RESULT FROM ANY ACTION IN CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS CLAIM THAT ARISES OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE MODEL. Microsoft and Excel are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, the publisher and the author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of information contained in this document or from the use of programs and source code that may accompany it. In no event shall the publisher and the author be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this document. Produced: December 2011

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Contents

Table of Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 1.2 1.3

About SAM ...........................................................................................................................4 User Support ...........................................................................................................................13 Keep SAM Up to Date ...........................................................................................................................14

2 Getting Started
2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11

16

Start a Project ...........................................................................................................................16 Welcome Page ...........................................................................................................................19 Main Window ...........................................................................................................................21 Input Pages ...........................................................................................................................22 Run Simulations ...........................................................................................................................24 Results Page ...........................................................................................................................25 Export Data and Graphs ...........................................................................................................................28 Manage ...........................................................................................................................30 Cases Menus ...........................................................................................................................32 Notes ...........................................................................................................................37

File Formats ...........................................................................................................................37

3 YouTube Channel

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SAM Help

Introduction
For a general description of SAM, see About SAM. For information about getting help using SAM, see User Support. For instructions on getting the latest version or updating your version of SAM, see Keep SAM Up to Date.

The System Advisor Model (SAM) is a performance and financial model for renewable energy power systems and projects.

1.1

About SAM

Overview
The Solar Advisor Model (SAM) is a performance and financial model designed to facilitate decision making for people involved in the renewable energy industry: Project managers and engineers Incentive program designers Technology developers Researchers SAM makes performance predictions and cost of energy estimates for grid-connected power projects based on installation and operating costs and system design parameters that you specify as inputs to the model. Projects can be either on the customer side of the utility meter, buying and selling electricity at retail rates, or on the utility side of the meter, selling electricity at a price negotiated through a power purchase agreement (PPA). The following image shows SAM's main window showing monthly electricity generation for a 250 kW PV system in Phoenix, Arizona.

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The first step in creating a SAM file is to choose a technology and financing option for your project. SAM automatically populates input variables with a set of default values for the type of project. It is your responsibility as an analyst to review and modify the all of the input data as appropriate for each analysis. Next, you provide information about a project's location, the type of equipment in the system, the cost of installing and operating the system, and financial and incentives assumptions. SAM includes several databases of performance data and coefficients for system components such as photovoltaic modules and inverters, parabolic trough receivers and collectors, or biopower combustion systems. For those components, you simply choose an option from a list. SAM can also automatically download data from an online database of retail electricity rates and structures for U.S. utilities. For the remaining input variables, you either use the default value or change its value. Some examples of input variables are: Installation costs including equipment purchases, labor, engineering and other project costs, and land costs, and operation and maintenance costs. Numbers of modules and inverters, tracking type, derating factors for photovoltaic systems. Collector and receiver type, solar multiple, storage capacity, power block capacity for parabolic trough systems. Analysis period, real discount rate, inflation rate, tax rates, internal rate of return target or power purchase price for utility financing models. Building load and time-of-use retail rates for commercial and residential financing models. Tax credit and payment incentives amounts and rates. Running the model also requires a weather file for your project's location in one of three formats: TMY2, TMY3, or EPW. Files for many locations in the U.S. and around the world are available in those formats for free on different websites. SAM includes the complete set of TMY2 files for U.S. locations, a tool for automatically downloading weather files from NREL weather file databases using a project site's address or geographic coordinates, and a tool for creating weather files with your own weather data.

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SAM Help

Once you are satisfied with the input variable values, you run simulations, and then examine results. A typical analysis involves running simulations, examining results, revising inputs, and repeating that process until you understand and have confidence in the results.

Results: Tables, Graphs, and Reports

SAM displays modeling results in tables and graphs, ranging from the metrics table displaying levelized cost of energy, first year annual production, and other single-value metrics, to the detailed annual cash flow and hourly performance data that can be viewed in tabular or graphical form. A built-in graphing tool displays a set of default graphs and allows for creation of custom graphs. Graph sliders make it easy to visually examine the effect of changing input values in graphs and tables without changing values on the input pages. All graphs and tables can be exported in various formats for inclusion in reports and presentations, and also for further analysis with spreadsheet or other software. Graphs and Charts on the Results page displays graphs of results that you can easily export to your documents:

SAM's report generator allows you to create custom report templates to include SAM results in your project proposals and other documents:

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Reports are fully customizable and can contain text and images with graphs and tables of data from your SAM simulations

Performance Model
SAM's performance model makes hour-by-hour calculations of a power system's electric output, generating a set of 8,760 hourly values that represent the system's electricity production over a single year. You can explore the system's performance characteristics in detail by viewing tables and graphs of the hourly and monthly performance data, or use performance metrics such as the system's total annual output and capacity factor for more general performance evaluations. The Time Series graph on the Results page showing hourly electricity generation for a 100 MW parabolic trough system with 6 hours of storage in Blythe, California:

The current version of the SAM includes performance models for the following technologies: Photovoltaic systems (flat-plate and concentrating)

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Parabolic trough concentrating solar power systems Power tower concentrating solar power systems (molten salt and direct steam) Linear Fresnel concentrating solar power systems Dish-Stirling concentrating solar power systems Conventional fossil-fuel thermal systems Solar water heating for residential or commercial buildings Large and small wind power projects Geothermal power and geothermal co-production Biomass power

Financial Model
SAM's financial model calculates financial metrics for various kinds of power projects based on a project's cash flows over an analysis period that you specify. The financial model uses the system's electrical output calculated by the performance model to calculate the series of annual cash flows. SAM includes financial models for the following kinds of projects: Residential rooftop (retail electricity rates) Commercial rooftop (retail rates or power purchase agreement) Utility-scale (power purchase agreement): Single owner Leveraged partnership flip All equity partnership flip Sale leaseback Residential and Commercial Projects Residential and commercial projects are financed through either a loan or cash payment, and recover investment costs by selling electricity through either a net metering or time-of-use pricing agreement. For these projects, SAM reports the following financial metrics: Levelized cost of energy Revenue with and without renewable energy system After-tax net present value Payback Period Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Projects Utility and commercial PPA projects are assumed to sell electricity through a power purchase agreement at a fixed price with optional annual escalation and time-of-delivery adjustment factors. For these projects, SAM calculates: Levelized cost of energy PPA price (electricity sales price) Internal rate of return Net present value Debt fraction or debt service coverage ratio SAM can either calculate the internal rate of return based on a power price you specify, or calculate the power price based on the rate of return you specify.

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Levelized Cost of Energy and Cash Flow

SAM calculates the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) after-tax cash flows for projects using retail electricity rates, and from the revenue cash flow for projects selling electricity under a power purchase agreement. The following image shows several rows of the cash flow table for a 10 MW utility-scale project with a twopartner flip financial structure:

The project annual cash flows include: Revenues from electricity sales and incentive payments Installation costs Operating, maintenance, and replacement costs Loan principal and interest payments Tax benefits and liabilities (accounting for any tax credits for which the project is eligible) Incentive payments Project and partner's internal rate of return requirements (for PPA projects) Incentives The financial model can account for a wide range of incentive payments and tax credits: Investment based incentives (IBI) Capacity-based incentives (CBI) Production-based incentives (PBI) Investment tax credits (ITC) Production tax credits (PTC) Depreciation (MACRS, Straight-line, custom)

Advanced Options
Advanced modeling options allow for studies involving multiple simulations, linking SAM inputs to a

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Microsoft Excel workbook, and working with custom simulation modules. The following options are for analyses that investigate impacts of variations and uncertainty in assumptions about weather, performance, cost, and financial parameters on model results: Parametric Analysis: Assign multiple values to input variables to create graphs and tables showing the value of output metrics for each value of the input variable. Sensitivity Analysis: Create tornado graphs by specifying a range of values for input variables as a percentage. Optimization: Find the value of input variables that result in either a maximum or minimum value of an output metric. Statistical: Create histograms showing the sensitivity of output metrics to variations in input values. P50/P90: For locations with weather data available for many years, calculate the probability that the system's total annual output will exceed a certain value. For files with multiple cases, the Multiple Subsystems option allows you to model a project that combines systems from the cases, assuming that the system's total electrical output is the sum of the output of the systems modeled in each case, and applies the financing model from one case to this total output. SAM also makes it possible to work with external models developed in Excel or the TRNSYS simulation platform: Excel Exchange: Use Excel to calculate the value of input variables, and automatically pass values of input variables between SAM and Excel. User Variables: Create your own input variables for use with Excel Exchange or a custom TRNSYS deck. Simulator Options: Change the simulation time step, or run SAM with your own simulation modules developed in the TRNSYS modeling platform. Finally, SAM's scripting language SamUL allows you to write your own programs within the SAM user interface to control simulations, change values of input variables, and write data to text files. You can also use SAM's code generation feature to automatically generate code that controls SAM from your programs written in Excel VBA, Python, C, or MATLAB.

Software Development History and Users

SAM, originally called the "Solar Advisor Model" was developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories in 2005, and at first used internally by the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Program for systems-based analysis of solar technology improvement opportunities within the program. The first public version was released in August 2007 as Version 1, making it possible for solar energy professionals to analyze photovoltaic systems and concentrating solar power parabolic trough systems in the same modeling platform using consistent financial assumptions. Since 2007, two new versions have been released each year, adding new technologies and financing options. In 2010, the name changed to "System Advisor Model" to reflect the addition of non-solar technologies. The DOE, NREL, and Sandia continue to use the model for program planning and grant programs. Since the first public release, over 35,000 people representing manufacturers, project developers, academic researchers, and policy makers have downloaded the software. Manufacturers are using the model to evaluate the impact of efficiency improvements or cost reductions in their products on the cost of energy from installed systems. Project developers use SAM to evaluate different system configurations to maximize earnings from electricity sales. Policy makers and designers use the model to experiment with different incentive structures.

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Downloading SAM and User Support

SAM runs on both Windows and Mac OS. It requires about 470 MB of storage space on your computer. SAM is available for free download at http://sam.nrel.gov. To download the software, you must register for an account on the website. After registering, you will receive an email with your account information. SAM's website at http://sam.nrel.gov includes software descriptions, links to publications about SAM and other resources:

The following resources are available for learning to use SAM and for getting help with your analyses: This Help system User support forum: https://sam.nrel.gov/forums/support-forum Demonstration videos on the SAM website: https://sam.nrel.gov/content/video-tutorial Periodic webinars: https://sam.nrel.gov/content/sam-training-schedule You can contact the SAM support team by emailing sam.support@nrel.gov. SAM's help system includes detailed descriptions of the user interface, modeling options, and results:

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SAM Help

Model Structure
SAM consists of a user interface, calculation engine, and programming interface. The user interface is the part of SAM that you see, and provides access to input variables and simulation controls, and displays tables and graphs of results. SAM's calculation engine performs a time-step-by-time-step simulation of a power system's performance, and a set of annual financial calculations to generate a project cash flow and financial metrics. The programming interface allows external programs to interact with SAM.

The user interface performs three basic functions: Provide access to input variables, which are organized into input pages. The input variables describe the physical characteristics of a system, and the cost and financial assumptions for a project.

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Allow you to control how SAM runs simulations. You can run a basic simulation, or more advanced simulations for optimization and sensitivity studies. Provide access to output variables in tables and graphs on the Results page, and in files that you can access in a spreadsheet program or graphical data viewer. SAM's scripting language SamUL allows you to automate certain tasks. If you have some experience writing computer programs, you can easily learn to write SamUL scripts to set the values of input variables by reading them from a text file or based on calculations in the script, run simulations, and write values of results to a text file. You can also use SamUL to automatically run a series of simulations using different weather files. Excel Exchange allows you to use Microsoft Excel to calculate values of input variables. With Excel Exchange, each time you run simulations, SAM opens a spreadsheet and, depending on how you've configured Excel Exchange, writes values from SAM input pages to the spreadsheet, and reads values from the spreadsheet to use in simulations. This makes it possible to use spreadsheet formulas to calculate values of SAM input variables. Calculation Engine Each renewable energy technology in SAM has a corresponding performance model that performs calculations specific to the technology. Similarly, each financing option in SAM is also associated with a particular financial model with its own set of inputs and outputs. The financial models are as independent as possible from the performance models to allow for consistency in financial calculations across the different technologies. A performance simulation consists of a series of many calculations to emulate the performance of the system over a one year period in time steps of one hour for most simulations, and shorter time steps for some technologies. A typical simulation run consists of the following steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. After starting SAM, you select a combination of technology and financing options for a case in the user interface. Behind the scenes, SAM chooses the proper set of simulation and financial models. You specify values of input variables in the user interface. Each variable has a default value, so it not necessary to specify a value for every variable. When you click the Run button, SAM runs the simulation and financial models. For advanced analyses, you can configure simulations for optimization or sensitivity analyses before running simulations. SAM displays graphs and tables of results in the user interface's Results page.

5.

1.2

User Support

For information about any page in the software, do one of the following:

Press the F1 key in Windows or Command-? in Mac OS.

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Click the help button at the top right corner of each input page. Click Help Contents from the Help menu. In secondary windows, click the Help button for information about the window.

For additional help, try: For general information about the model, including a discussion of project costs, references to related publications and a list of frequently asked questions, and other information visit the SAM website: http://sam.nrel.gov/. For user support, post a question on the SAM forum at https://sam.nrel.gov/forum. To send an email to the SAM team, contact us at sam.support@nrel.gov.

1.3

Keep SAM Up to Date

SAM Versions
The SAM team releases new versions of SAM periodically. To find out if your version of SAM is the latest version, check the SAM website at http://sam.nrel.gov/. SAM's Welcome page also displays news from the SAM team, including announcements of new versions. SAM displays the version number in the title bar of the Main window:

You can also find the SAM version number along with version numbers of other components of the software by clicking About on the Help menu:

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Checking for Updates

Updates may be available before a new release is available to address minor issues with the software. To check for updates: On the Help menu, click Check for updates to this version.

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SAM Help

Getting Started
Start a Project describes the steps for creating a SAM file. Welcome Page describes the Welcome page that appears when you first start SAM. Main Window describes SAM's main window that appears when you open a SAM file, where you access input pages and results. Input Pages describes the general layout of SAM's input pages where you specify the value of input variables. Run Simulations explains how to run simulations. Results Page describes the general layout of the page displaying results. Export Data and Graphs explains how to export data and images of graphs from SAM for use in spreadsheets, reports, presentations, and other documents. Manage Cases explains how to work with cases in a SAM file. Menus describes SAM's menus. Notes explains how to use notes to store text messages in SAM. File Formats describes the types of files used with SAM.

The Getting Started topics introduce you to SAM:

2.1
See also:

Start a Project

The following procedure describes the basic steps to set up and run a simulation of a project.

Financing Overview Technology Options Getting Started with PV

A. Create a file
When you start SAM, it displays the Welcome page with several options for creating or opening a file. To create a new file, under Enter a new project name to begin, type a name for your project and click Create a new file.

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SAM displays the Technology and Market window, where you choose the technology to model and a financing option for the project. Note. In previous versions of SAM, you started by opening a sample file that contained a complete set of default values. In the current version of SAM, creating a new file is equivalent: SAM creates a file populated with input values from an internal database of default values. The sample files in the current version are examples of more advanced capabilities.

B. Choose a technology
The technology option you choose determines the performance model SAM uses for simulations. SAM offers performance models for photovoltaic, concentraing solar power, generic, solar water heating, wind, and geothermal systems. For photovoltaic systems, if you want to choose a specific module and inverter from a list, choose Component-based Models. If you want to model the entire system using a single derate factor, choose PVWatts System Model.

For parabolic trough systems, choose Physical Trough System under Concentrating Solar Power. If you are modeling a system with a configuration similar to the SEGS plants choose Empirical Trough System.

For other technologies, choose the appropriate option. See Technology Options for descriptions.

C. Choose a financing option

When you choose a technology option in the Technology and Market window, SAM displays financing options available for the technology under the Select a financing option heading. For a description of the financing options, see Financing Overview.

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For projects on the customer side of the electric power meter that buy and sell electricity at retail rates, choose either Residential or Commercial.

For power generation projects that sell power at a price negotiated through a power purchase agreement, choose either Commercial PPA or one of Utility Independent Power Producer (IPP) options.

When you choose a financing option, and click OK, SAM creates a new file and populates all of the input variables with values from the default values database.

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D. Review inputs
After creating your file, open each input page and review the default assumptions. Note. The System Summary page displays data from other input pages so that you can see some of the main parameters of the project. You cannot edit values on the System Summary page. See Input Pages for details.

E. Run simulations
To run simulations, click the Run button.

See Run Simulations for details.

F. Review results
When simulations are complete, SAM displays a summary of results in the Metric table.

You can display graphs and tables of detailed results data on the Results page.

2.2

Welcome Page

When you start SAM, it displays a Welcome window with three options for starting a project. Create a new file to start a project. Type the project name and click Create to display the Technology and Market window where you choose a technology and financing option before creating a new zsam file for your project. Open a sample file. The sample files illustrate how to model some common types of projects and how to use some of SAM's more advanced modeling techniques.

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Open a recent file. The Recent Files list contains project files that were saved during previous SAM sessions.

Note. When you install SAM, it creates the SAM Projects folder in your default documents folder and uses this as the default location for storing project files. You can change the default project file location by clicking Preferences in the File Menu.

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2.3

Main Window

The main window gives you access to the input pages for each of the cases in the project:

The case tabs display different cases in the project. A project may consist of a single case, or may contain more than one case. Click a tab to display the case. Click the 'x' on a tab to delete the case. The navigation menu displays a list of input pages available for the technology and market of the current case. Click an item in the navigation menu to display an input page. The active input page is indicated on the menu in blue. When the menu is too long to fit in the window, use the vertical scroll bar to move through the menu, or resize the Main window to make the entire menu visible. Each item on the navigation menu also displays key data the input pages. For example, the system costs item in the navigation menu shows the system's total installed cost.

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2.4

Input Pages

SAM's input pages provide access to the input variables and options that define the assumptions of your analysis. When you start a project, whether from a sample file, by creating a new project, or opening an existing project, SAM populates all of the input variables with default values. This means that you can get started with your analysis even before you have final values for all of the input variables. Note. To see a list of all input variables and their values for a case, on the Case menu, click Show Input Value Summary.

Colors of Input Variables

The text and data box colors on the input pages indicate the kind of information they contain: Note. The appearance of text and text boxes depends on whether you are running SAM on Windows or Mac OS. The screenshots below are for Windows. White data boxes display input variables that you can modify by typing values in the box:

Blue data boxes are for reference values that SAM either displays from other input pages, or calculates from other input variables. Data in blue cannot be modified. Press the F1 key on your keyboard (Command-? on a Mac) to see the Help topic with descriptions of the equations SAM uses to calculate these values:

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Gray data boxes show values for your reference. For example, these input variables on the Climate page show annual averages calculated from data stored in the weather file. You cannot modify data in gray:

Blue underlined text indicates links to websites with useful information related to the input page:

Informational text describing the input variables appears in orange font:

Library buttons populate input variables with values from a library of stored parameters. Modifying a value on an input page does not change the value stored in the library. See Working with Libraries for to learn more about libraries:

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2.5

Run Simulations

After reviewing and modifying inputs on the input pages, click the Run all Simulations button to run simulations:

SAM runs simulations based on the values of input variables that appear on the input pages and reports those values as "base case" results. In addition to the base case, SAM runs simulations for any additional simulations you may have set up on the Configure Simulations pages, such as parametric or sensitivity analyses. You can also run simulations from the Case menu (See Menus for a description of menu commands):

Run All Simulations Runs all of the simulations configured in the current case. Equivalent to clicking the Run button. This option does not save hourly results. Run Base Case Only Runs a single simulation based on the input values shown on the input pages, ignoring any parametric, sensitivity, optimization or other configurations requiring multiple simulation runs, and does not save hourly results.

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2.6

Results Page

The Results page displays data from both the performance model and financial model. You can export data from any graph or table displayed on the Results page to Excel or text files. To display the Results page: Click Run to run simulations and display the Results page.

Or, click Switch to Results to show the Results page without running simulations.

Note. If you try to display the Results page before running simulations, and there are no results from an earlier simulation run, SAM displays variable names like sv.annual_output or cf.energy because there are no results to display. If you see these variable names, click Run to generate results. Performance Model Results When you run simulations based on inputs you specify on the Systems pages in SAM, the performance model creates a file of hourly data called the simulation results file. There are several options in SAM for viewing data from this file: Note. For some advanced simulations, the simulation file may contain data with a different time step. The Metrics table displays key metrics that summarize the performance model results, such as total annual electrical output, capacity factor, etc. Graphs and Charts displays monthly electrical output and an annual energy flow graph, and allows you to create your own graphs. The Data Tables allows you to build custom tables of hourly, monthly, and annual results on the Results page. The Base Case Time Series displays time series and statistical graphs of hourly data. Financial Model Results SAM's financial model uses the sum of the performance model's 8,760 hourly output values in kWh as an input representing the system's total annual electrical output in kWh. The financial model then calculates the project's cash flow based on the inputs you specify on the Costs and Financing pages. SAM displays financial model results in the following places: The Metrics table displays key metrics such as the LCOE, PPA price, IRR, and payback period. The Base Case Cash Flow table shows details of the project's cash flow. The Data Tables allows you to build custom tables of cost and cash flow data along with metrics.

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Screenshots The Display Results button shows results for the last simulation without running a new set of simulations. If you show the Results page using this button after changing values on the input pages, the data on the results page will not match the inputs. Click Configure Sliders to add sliders for some input variables. You can use sliders to dynamically change data shown in graphs and tables without running simulations.

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Simulation Warning Messages Under some conditions, SAM displays simulation warnings. When there are simulation warnings, the simulation warning button appears at the top right corner of the Results page. Click the Show Simulation Warnings button to view warning messages:

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2.7

Export Data and Graphs

SAM provides a several options for exporting images of graphs and results data to other applications for further analysis or inclusion in reports and other documents.

Results Page View Graphs and Charts

When the Results page is in the View Graphs and Charts mode, you can export the data in the graphs using one of the following methods: Click Copy Graph Data to copy data from the graph to your computer's clipboard. You can then paste the data into a spreadsheet or other program.

Right-click the graph to copy either data from the graph or an image of the graph to the clipboard, or export it to a file:

On the Results menu, click Graph Data to view a list of options for exporting graph data:

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Results Page Cash Flow and Data Tables

The base case cash flow table and Data Tables provide three options for exporting data shown in the tables:

Copy to clipboard Copies the table to your clipboard. You can paste the entire table into a word processing document, spreadsheet, presentation or other software. Save as CSV Saves the table in a comma-delimited text file that you can open in a spreadsheet program or text editor. Send to Excel (Windows only) Saves the table in an Excel file.

Results Menu

Note for Mac users. The Send to Excel and View Hourly Time Series (DView) options are not available on Mac computers. DView does not run on Mac OS, and SAM cannot control Microsoft Excel on Mac OS. For details on options for viewing data on a Mac, see Data Viewer (DView). Graph Data Exports data from the graphs currently displayed on the Results page.

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Cash Flow Exports cash flow data for the current case. You can export graph and cash flow data from the Results page to: The clipboard for pasting into documents. Comma-delimited text files. Excel files (Windows only). View Hourly Time Series (DView) (Windows only) Opens DView to display graphs of hourly data. See Time Series Data Viewer (DView) for details. Note. SAM's built-in time series data viewer replaces DView, and works in both Windows and Mac OS. To use the time series viewer, click View Hourly Data where you see the button on the Climate page and Electric Load page, or click Base Case Time Series on the Results page.

2.8

Manage Cases

A case is a complete set of input data and results. A project file contains at least one case. SAM uses tabs to display each case in the project, analogous to the way Excel displays worksheets in a workbook. SAM indicates the active case name in bold type:

Note. The number of cases that a project file can contain depends on the storage and computing resources available on your computer. SAM displays a warning if you try to add more than six cases to your project. Your computer may be able to handle projects with more than six cases, but for the model to run efficiently, it is best to keep the number of cases to less than seven.

Why Use Cases?

By creating more than one case in a file, you can easily compare the assumptions and results of different analysis scenarios. For example, you could use cases to compare the cost and performance of a residential photovoltaic system in several locations by defining a separate case for each location, or you could compare a utility-scale photovoltaic and concentrating solar power systems.

Creating and Deleting Cases

To add, remove, and rename cases, used the four commands on the Case menu:

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Create Case Adds a new case to the project file. SAM displays the Technology and Market window for you to choose options for the case. Rename Case Change the label identifying the case that appears on the case tab. Duplicate Case Creates a copy of the active case, with a duplicate set of input parameters and results. Delete Case Deletes the active case. You can also delete a case by clicking the 'x' on the case's tab.

For projects with more cases than can be displayed on tabs, the scroll and list controls allow you to access all of the cases in the project.

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2.9

Menus

SAM's menus provide access to commands for managing projects, running simulations, exporting results, and getting more information about the model. New Create a new file using default input values. SAM creates a zsam file with a single case and no results. Open Open an existing zsam file. Open Sample File Open a sample file that contains a complete set of inputs and results. The submenu lists the available sample files. SAM creates a zsam file with inputs and results for one or more cases. Open SCIF File Open a SCIF file created in Version 3.0 or 2.5 of the model. Contact SAM Support at sam.support@nrel. gov for help with files from old versions of SAM. Import Case Import one or more cases from another zsam file. Save Save the project as a zsam file in its current location. Save As Save the project as a zsam file in a different location or with a new name. Close Close the zsam file without exiting SAM. Clear Cached Simulations Clears stored results and other data from computer memory. Use this command if the program becomes sluggish after running a very large number of simulations, or if you are setting up very complex simulations and want to clear the cache before running them. Libraries Open the library editor to view or modify component libraries. See Libraries for details. Preferences Open the Preferences window.

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Recent Files Open a zsam file from the recent files list. Quit Close the zsam file and exit SAM.

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Create Case Create a new case in the project. SAM opens the Technology and Market window where you choose options for the case. The new case will open with default input values and no results. Rename Case Change the name of the current case. Duplicate Case Create a copy of the current case. Delete Case Delete the current case. You can also delete a case by clicking the 'x' in the case's tab. Run All Simulations Runs all of the simulations configured in the current case. Equivalent to clicking the Run button. Run Base Case Only Runs a single simulation based on the input values shown on the input pages, ignoring any parametric, sensitivity, optimization or other configurations requiring multiple simulation runs, and does not save hourly results. Reset to Tech/Market Default Inputs Replaces all values on input pages with default values. Clear Case Results Clears results from the current case. SAM removes any graphs and sliders you may have created for the case. Show Input Value Summary Displays a list of input variables with their values that you can copy and paste into documents and spreadsheets. In Windows, you can also export the table as an Excel

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SAM Help
workbook. Advanced The advanced options create lines of code in Excel VBA, ANSI C, or for MATLAB that you can use in your own programs to call SAM. See Generating Code for details. Graph Data Exports data from the graphs currently displayed on the Results page. Cash Flow Exports cash flow data for the current case. You can export graph and cash flow data from the Results page to: The clipboard for pasting into documents. Comma-delimited text files. Excel files (Windows only). View Hourly Time Series (DView) (Windows only) Opens DView to display graphs of hourly data. See Time Series Data Viewer (DView) for details. Note. SAM's built-in time series data viewer replaces DView, and works in both Windows and Mac OS. To use the time series viewer, click View Hourly Data where you see the button on the Climate page and Electric Load page, or click Base Case Time Series on the Results page. Parametrics Displays the parametric analysis page allowing you to assign multiple values to input variables for parametric studies and optimization. See Parametric Analysis for details. Sensitivity Displays the sensitivity analysis page allowing you to specify a range of values to input variables for sensitivity analyses. See Sensitivity Analysis for details. Optimization Displays the optimization page allowing you to specify an objective function and find the optimal value of input variables. See Optimization for details. Statistical Displays the statistical analysis page allowing you to

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explore uncertainty in input variables. See Statistical Analysis for details. Multiple Subsystems Displays the multiple systems page where you can build a system as a set of subsystems. See Multiple Subsystems for details. Exceedance Probabilities Displays a list of weather files for locations with data available for multiple year analyses. See Exceedance Probabilities for details. Excel Exchange Displays the excel exchange page where you can set up a data exchange between SAM and Excel when you want to use Excel to calculate values of SAM input variables. See Excel Exchange for details. Simulator Options Displays the simulator options page where you can specify the simulation time step and to configure SAM to run custom TRNSYS decks. See Simulator Optionsfor details. The Developer menu displays development environment. New SamUL Script Create a new script, which appears as a tab in the SAM file. Rename Script Change the script name that appears on the tab. Remove Script Delete the current script. Run Script Execute the code in the SamUL script. Undo Erase the last change in the script. Redo Revert last Undo action. Cut Delete selected text and store it in the clipboard. Copy Copy the selected text and store it in the clipboard. commands for the SamUL

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Paste Paste the contents of the clipboard. Select All Select all of the text in the script. Find Text Search the script. Help Contents Opens SAM's help system. User Support Opens your computer's web browser to the SAM support forum page. (Requires an internet connection.) Release Notes Displays SAM's version history. Web Site Opens the SAM website in your computer's default browser. (Requires an internet connection.) Contact Us Opens your computer's default email client with an email addressed to the SAM support team at sam. support@nrel.gov. (Requires an internet connection.) Financial Spreadsheets Displays a list of Excel workbooks that mimic SAM's financial model using Excel formulas that you can use to learn more about how the financial model works. Download New Versions of SAM Opens the SAM website's download page. See Keep SAM Up to Date for details. Check for updates to this version Checks for updates to the SAM, component libraries, and help system, and allows you to update your software when updates are available. (Requires an internet connection.) About Displays the legal disclaimer and information about the version of your copy of the software.

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2.10

Notes

The Notes feature allows you to store text associated with each input page and with the Results page. To create notes: 1. From any input page or the Results page, click the Show Notes button at the top right of the window.

2. 3.

Type your text in the notes window. Click the Notes window's close button to hide the window and save your notes. For input page notes, SAM displays a Notes icon in the navigation menu indicating that there are notes associated with the input page.

For Results page notes, SAM opens the notes whenever you navigate to the page and after running simulations. To delete notes: 1. 2. 3. Open the Notes window containing the notes you want to delete. Select all text in the Notes window and press the Delete key. Close the Notes window. SAM will remove the appropriate Notes icon from the navigation menu.

2.11

File Formats

SAM uses the following types of files to store and transfer data. The file formats are listed below by file extension in alphabetical order. Contact sam.support@nrel.gov for more information. BAS is a text file containing VBA code for use with Excel. BMP is a graphics file format used to export graph images. C is a text file containing ANSI C code for use in a C program. CSV is a text file containing a table comma-delimited columns that the model uses to export results data from graphs and tables. Weather files in TMY3 format also use the CSV extension. CBWFDB is a file format used for P50/P90 analysis. DVIEW is a file format used by SAM's time series data viewer, DView.

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EPW is a weather file format that SAM can read directly. M is a text file containing MATLAB code. OUT is a text file format generated by SAM's simulation engine (TRNSYS) to store hourly performance data. PDF is the portable document format used by the report generator and as an option for exporting graph images. SAMLIB is a text file used to store data for a SAM library. SAMREPORT is a file format used to store report templates. SCIF (SAM compressed inputs file) is an obsolete compressed file format used in SAM versions 2.5 through 3.0. The current version of SAM can open SCIF files created by older versions of the model. SUL is a text file containing SamUL script for automating SAM analyses. SWRF is a text file containing wind resource data for the utility-scale wind model. TM2 and TM3 are weather file formats that SAM can read directly. XLS and XLSX are Excel files used to export data from SAM and to exchange data between the model and Excel. Note that Excel files must be in Excel 2003-2007 XLS format, and not in the newer XLSX format. ZSAM files store project data, which includes inputs and results for one or more cases.

YouTube Channel

For video demonstrations of SAM, please visit the SAM Demo Video YouTube Channel at: http://www. youtube.com/user/SAMDemoVideos Demonstration videos on the SAM YouTube Channel include: Use TMY3 Weather Files in SAM (Created September 2011) SAM Overview (Created April 2010) Please feel free to leave comments on the site with suggestions for improving the videos, or for videos you would like us to add to the channel.

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