Comparison of Photovoltaic Models in the System Advisor Model

Abstract

The System Advisor Model (SAM) is free software developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for predicting the performance of renewable energy systems and analyzing the financial feasibility of residential, commercial, and utility-scale grid-connected projects. SAM offers several options for predicting the performance of photovoltaic systems. The model requires that the analyst choose from three photovoltaic system models, and depending on that choice, possibly choose from three module and two inverter component models. To obtain meaningful results from SAM, the analyst must be aware of the differences between the model options and their applicability to different modeling scenarios. This paper presents an overview the different photovoltaic model options, and presents a comparison of results for a 200 kW system using different model options