System Advisor Model, SAM 2011.12.2: General Description

Technical Report · Wed Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1046896· OSTI ID:1046896

Gilman, Paul; Dobos, Aron

This document describes the capabilities of the U.S. Department of Energy and National Renewable Energy Laboratory's System Advisor Model (SAM), Version 2011.12.2, released on December 2, 2011. SAM is software that models the cost and performance of renewable energy systems. Project developers, policy makers, equipment manufacturers, and researchers use graphs and tables of SAM results in theprocess of evaluating financial, technology, and incentive options for renewable energy projects. SAM simulates the performance of solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and conventional power systems. The financial model can represent financing structures for projects that either buy and sell electricity at retail rates (residential and commercial) or sell electricity at a price determined in apower purchase agreement (utility). Advanced analysis options facilitate parametric, sensitivity, and statistical analyses, and allow for interfacing SAM with Microsoft Excel or with other computer programs. SAM is available as a free download at http://sam.nrel.gov. Technical support and more information about the software are available on the website.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1046896
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP-6A20-53437; TRN: US201215%%670
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
BIOMASS
COMPUTER CODES
ELECTRICITY
ENERGY SYSTEMS
FINANCING
MANUFACTURERS
PERFORMANCE
POWER SYSTEMS
PRICES
SENSITIVITY
SOLAR ENERGY
WIND POWER
System Advisor Model (SAM)
SAM software
renewable energy cost
performance
financial modeling