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 publication. Refer to your publication guidelines for correct formatting. These examples are for SAM 2022.11.21 -- 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 2022.11.29 (SAM 2022.11.21). National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Golden, CO. Accessed July 26, 2023. https://https://sam.nrel.gov .
Citing a topic in the SAM user documentation
System Advisor Model Version 2022.11.21 (SAM 2022.11.21) User Documentation. Weather File Formats. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Golden, CO.
Citing content from the SAM website
System Advisor Model Version 2022.11.21 (SAM 2022.11.21) Website. PV Cost Data. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Golden, CO. Accessed July 26, 2023. 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 October 31, 2016. www.nrel.gov/docs/fy14osti/61019.pdf .
Citing Code from the SAM Open Source code repositories
System Advisor Model Version 2022.11.21 (2022.11.21). SSC source code. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Golden, CO. Accessed July 26, 2020. 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 26, 2023. github.com/nrel/pysam .
Citing SAM
NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
