The System Advisor Model™ (SAM™) is free software, and you are welcome to use it for your academic research and for commercial uses.
In documentation of your research or analysis based on SAM results, we ask that you acknowledge your use of the System Advisor Model and mention the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which develops the software, and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which funds most of NREL's work on SAM.
Here are some suggestions for SAM citations in a reference list or bibliography for a journal article and other publications. Refer to your publication guidelines for correct formatting. These examples are for SAM 2023.12.17 -- you should use the version number appropriate for your work when you cite SAM. For a list of SAM version numbers see either the SAM Download page or the SAM release notes.
Citing the SAM software
System Advisor Model™ Version 2023.12.17 (SAM™ 2023.12.17). National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Golden, CO. Accessed July 30, 2024. https://https://sam.nrel.gov .
Citing a topic in the SAM user documentation
System Advisor Model™ Version 2023.12.17 (SAM™ 2023.12.17) User Documentation. Weather File Formats. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Golden, CO.
Citing content from the SAM website
System Advisor Model™ Version 2023.12.17 (SAM™ 2023.12.17) Website. PV Cost Data. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Golden, CO. Accessed July 30, 2024. https://sam.nrel.gov/photovoltaic/pv-cost-component.html.
Citing the SAM general description
Blair, N.; Dobos, A.; Freeman, J.; Neises, T.; Wagner, M.; Ferguson, T.; Gilman, P.; Janzou, S. (2014). System Advisor Model™, SAM™ 2014.1.14: General Description. NREL/TP-6A20-61019. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Golden, CO. Accessed July 30, 2024. www.nrel.gov/docs/fy14osti/61019.pdf .
Citing Code from the SAM Open Source code repositories
System Advisor Model™ Version 2023.12.17 (SAM™ 2023.12.17). SSC source code. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Golden, CO. Accessed July 30, 2024. https://github.com/NREL/ssc/blob/develop/ssc/cmod_pvwattsv8.cpp.
Citing PySAM
PySAM Version 4.2.0. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Golden, CO. Accessed July 30, 2024. github.com/nrel/pysam .