Modules

System Simulation Module Names and Descriptions

The following modules are used in the SAM GUI’s technology-financial simulations.

PySAM Module SAM Desktop Description
Battery Generic System-Battery Detailed battery storage model
Battwatts PVWatts-Battery Simplified battery storage model
Belpe Residential, Commercial and Third Party Electric load calculator for residential buildings
Biomass Biomass combustion Biomass combustion for electricity generation
Cashloan Residential and Commercial Financial model for residential and commercial behind-the-meter projects
Equpartflip All Equity Partnership Flip PPA all equity partnership flip (no debt) financial model
Fuelcell Fuelcell Fuelcell model
GenericSystem Generic system Basic power system model using either capacity, capacity factor, and heat rate, or an hourly power generation profile as input
Geothermal Geothermal Geothermal power model for hydrothermal and EGS systems with flash or binary conversion
Grid Grid Interconnect and Curtailment limits
Hcpv High concentration PV Concentrating photovoltaic system with a high concentration photovoltaic module model and separate inverter model
HostDeveloper Third party ownership - host/developer Third party ownership with PPA financial model from host and developer perspective
IphToLcoefcr LCOH Calculator Calculate levelized cost of heat using fixed charge rate method for industrial process heat models
Lcoefcr LCOE calculator (FCR method) Calculate levelized cost of electricity using fixed charge rate method instead of cash flow
Levpartflip Leveraged Partnership Flip PPA leveraged partnership flip (with debt) financial model
LinearFresnelDsgIph Process heat linear direct steam Linear Fresnel for industrial process heat applications
Merchantplant Merchant plant Linear Fresnel for industrial process heat applications
MhkWave Marine hydrokinetic wave MHK Wave power calculation model using power distribution.
Pvsamv1 Photovoltaic (detailed) Detailed photovoltaic system model with separate components for module and inverter
Pvwattsv7 Photovoltaic (PVWatts) PVWatts photovoltaic system model with simple inputs
Saleleaseback PPA sale leaseback (utility) PPA sale leaseback partnership financial model
Singleowner PPA single owner (utility) PPA single owner financial model
Swh Solar water heating Solar water heating model for residential and commercial building applications
TcsgenericSolar CSP generic model CSP power system model with solar field characterized using a table of optical efficiency values
Tcsiscc CSP integrated solar combined cycle CSP molten salt power tower system with a natural gas combined cycle power plant
TcslinearFresnel CSP linear Fresnel direct steam Linear Fresnel model with steam heat transfer fluid for industrial process heat applications
TcsmoltenSalt CSP power tower molten salt CSP molten salt power tower for power generation
TcsMSLF CSP linear Fresnel molten salt CSP linear Fresnel with molten salt heat transfer fluid for power generation
TcstroughEmpirical CSP parabolic trough (empirical) CSP parabolic trough model based on empirically-derived coefficients and equations for power generation
Thermalrate Fuelcell Thermal flat rate structure net revenue calculator
Thirdpartyownership Third party ownership - host Third party ownership with PPA or lease agreement financial model from host perspective
TroughPhysical CSP parabolic trough (physical) CSP parabolic trough model based on heat transfer and thermodynamic principles for power generation
TroughPhysicalProcessHeat Process heat parabolic trough Parabolic trough for industrial process heat applications
Utilityrate5 Residential, Commercial, Third Party, Host Developer Retail electricity bill calculator
Windpower Wind Wind power system with one or more wind turbines

Other Modules Names and Descriptions

These modules provide helper functions or are older versions of above modules.

PySAM Module Description
Annualoutput Annual Output
BatteryStateful Single timestep battery carrying state
CbConstructionFinancing Construction financing cost calculations
CbEmpiricalHceHeatLoss Empirical HCE Heat Loss
CbMsptSystemCosts CSP molten salt power tower system costs
DsgFluxPreprocess Calculate receiver max flux and absorber (boiler, etc.) fractions
GeothermalCosts Geothermal monthly and hourly models using general power block code from TRNSYS Type 224 code by M.Wagner, and some GETEM model code.
Iec61853interp Determine single diode model parameters from IEC 61853 solution matrix at a given temperature and irradiance.
Iec61853par Calculate 11-parameter single diode model parameters from IEC-61853 PV module test data.
InvCecCg CEC Inverter Coefficient Generator
Ippppa Utility IPP/Commerical PPA Finance model.
Irradproc Irradiance Processor
IsccDesignPoint Calculates design point inject, extraction, fossil output
Layoutarea Layout Area Calculation
MhkCosts Calculates various cost categories for Marine Energy arrays for different device types.
Poacalib Calibrates beam and diffuse to give POA input
Pv6parmod CEC 6 Parameter PV module model performance calculator. Does not include weather file reading or irradiance processing, or inverter (DC to AC) modeling.
PvGetShadeLossMpp PV get shade loss fraction for strings
Pvsandiainv Sandia PV inverter performance calculator.
Pvwattsv11ts pvwattsv1_1ts- single timestep calculation of PV system performance.
Pvwattsv1 PVWatts V.1 - integrated hourly weather reader and PV system simulator.
Pvwattsv1Poa PVWatts system performance calculator. Does not include weather file reading or irradiance processing - user must supply arrays of precalculated POA irradiance data.
Pvwattsv51ts pvwattsv5_1ts- single timestep calculation of PV system performance.
Pvwattsv5 PVWatts V5 - integrated hourly weather reader and PV system simulator.
Sco2AirCooler Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle Air Cooler. Returns air cooler dimensions given fluid and location design points
Sco2CspSystem Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle Design and Off-Design Simulation
Sco2CspUdPcTables Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle. Returns optimized sco2 cycle parameters given inputs
Singlediode Single diode model function.
Singlediodeparams Single diode model parameter calculation.
6parsolve Solver for CEC/6 parameter PV module coefficients
Snowmodel Estimates the Detrimental Effects due to Snow Fall
Solarpilot SolarPILOT - CSP tower solar field layout tool.
TcsdirectSteam CSP direct steam power tower model for power generation
Tcsdish CSP dish-Stirling model with parameters for SES and WGA-ADDS systems for power generation
TcstroughPhysical CSP model using the emperical trough TCS types.
Timeseq Time sequence generator
TroughPhysicalCspSolver Physical trough using CSP Solver
UiTesCalcs Calculates values for all calculated values on UI TES page(s)
UiUdpcChecks Calculates the levels and number of paramteric runs for 3 udpc ind variables
UserHtfComparison Evaluates equivalence of two user-defined HTF tables
Utilityrate2 Complex utility rate structure net revenue calculator OpenEI Version 2
Utilityrate3 Complex utility rate structure net revenue calculator OpenEI Version 3
Utilityrate4 Complex utility rate structure net revenue calculator OpenEI Version 4
Utilityrate Complex utility rate structure net revenue calculator
WaveFileReader Wave resource data file reader (CSV)
Wfcheck Weather file checker.
Wfcsvconv Converter for TMY2, TMY3, INTL, EPW, SMW weather files to standard CSV format
Wfreader Standard Weather File Format Reader (TMY2, TMY3, EPW, SMW, WFCSV)
Windbos Wind Balance of System cost model
Windcsm WISDEM turbine cost model
WindFileReader SAM Wind Resource File Reader (SRW)
WindObos Wind Offshore Balance of System cost model