.. Getting Started:


Installation
************
PySAM for Python 3.5 to 3.8, as NREL-PySAM, is available on PyPi. It is also available on Anaconda for MacOSX up to 3.8 and on Windows and Linux up to 3.7. NREL-PySAM-stubs is the stub file package providing auto-completion features.

To install from PyPi::

	pip install NREL-PySAM

To install from Anaconda, the NREL channel needs to be appended::

    conda config --env --append channels nrel
    conda install nrel-pysam

Writing Your First PySAM Script
*******************************

Before you write your first PySAM script it really helps to familiarize
yourself with SAM.  If you are not already familiar with SAM, it is recommended
you install it, and run a simulation of interest to you.  SAM is a graphical user interface to the SAM Simulation Core library of models.  Using it provides an easy introduction to the simulations that can be done using the library.  PySAM is a python interface to the same SAM Simulation Core that allows you to customize SAM for your specific needs.

There is a lot of data needed to run a SAM simulation.  Entering that data with assignment statements in PySAM can be tedious.  One way to get a full set of data is to load the default setup.  This is good if your situation is close to the default.  Often, however, this is not the case.  Fortunately when your setup is significantly different than the default, you can enter the data using the SAM graphical user interface, and save that data to a JSON file, which can then be loaded by PySAM. You can then modify and use the data in PySAM with python as needed.

Though SAM is one program, it is made up of a number of simulation modules that are run
sequentially by the SAM graphical user interface.  The particular modules that
are run are determined by the type of simulation you are doing.  In general,
technology models are followed by financial models.  For example,
if you are running a PVWatts Distributed Commercial simulation, the modules in
the order they should be run are
pvwattsv7, battwatts, utilityrate5, and cashloan.  To find which modules you
need and the order to run them, look at :doc:`Configs` and search for your simulation type.


Each technology and financial model is its own module. Module documentation is in :doc:`Models` or refer to :ref:`modindex`.  Each module can be imported by::

	import PySAM.<PySAM Module>

The original Python SDK, :doc:`PySSC`, is bundled, and can be imported by::

	from PySAM.PySSC import PySSC

For examples of using PySAM modules, see :doc:`Examples` and the Examples folder of the source.