[TRNSYS-users] New TRNSYS based tool for PV and CSP Analysis - Solar Advisor Model

[Blair, Nate]

TRNSYS Users-

 

The National Renewable Energy Lab in conjunction with Sandia National
Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy has been developing a
software tool for simulation of performance, costing and financing of
photovoltaic systems and concentrating solar power systems. Because this
tool has TRNSYS as the core performance engine, performing hourly
simulations, the development team felt that the TRNSYS community might
be interested in knowing about it. 

The Solar Advisor Model is able to evaluate several types of financing
(from residential to utility-scale), detailed incentive programs and a
variety of technology-specific cost models for several and, eventually,
all SETP technologies. The SETP technologies currently represented in
SAM include concentrating solar power (CSP) parabolic trough systems and
photovoltaic (PV) flat plate and concentrating technologies. Other
technologies to be added include dish/Stirling CSP, power tower CSP and
refined PV models. There are several non-standard TRNSYS components
written for this activity which we are planning to be share with the
TRNSYS community shortly. For more information regarding the
capabilities of the SAM software, access the Background
<https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/sam/background.html>  section of the SAM
website. 

The SAM Development team has just released a new version of SAM (Version
1.3). To download SAM, please visit the SAM website at:
http://www.nrel.gov/analysis/sam <http://www.nrel.gov/analysis/sam>  

 

We would also like to make TRNSYS users aware of a new beta online
weather data tool. NREL has been developing the Solar Satellite Data
Download Online Tool. This is an online method (using Google Maps) for
locating and downloading solar satellite data (commonly referred to as
the Perez data) combined with meterological data. This data comes in
hourly annual files (TMY2 format for use with SAM and other tools) for
the years 1998 through 2005 for the continental United States only. The
grid of locations is at a 10km resolution meaning that there are
literally thousands of locations throughout the country. 

            Many SAM users and other simulation tool users have been
interested in getting more geographically and chronologically precise
data. The associated meteorological data (temperature, wind speed, etc.)
will continue to be reviewed and enhanced during the next year but the
preliminary data is available through this tool. 

            To become an beta tester of this software and start
downloading the data, just go to http://rpm.nrel.gov
<http://rpm.nrel.gov>  and click the 'create new account' link. Please
put the phrase "SAM" in your proposed user name. Once you get approval
(which is done manually by the administrator), please read the three
steps for downloading and then find your desired location on the Google
Maps interface (or the native RPM interface).  We would love any
feedback on usability and proposed future enhancements to the site.

 

Nate Blair on behalf of the SAM Development Team

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