Hello,
You could use the "Combine Systems" macro to add the hourly output of the two systems together to approximate the performance of a hybrid power tower / PV system.
UPDATE: As of SAM 2021.12.02, the Combine Cases macro is replaced by the Calculate generation profiles and nameplate capacity from open cases option on the Power Plant page for the Generic System model and Generic Battery model. See the SAM YouTube channel for a
short tutorial
.
To use the macro, first create a SAM file with two cases, one for the power tower system and the other for the PV system. You might give the cases names like "PV" and "Tower" so you can easily identify them. For each case, choose the financial model you want to use for the project, for example the PPA Single owner model. (If you aren't familiar with cases in SAM, see the Getting Started section in SAM's Help system for a description of how to work with them.)
For each of the two cases, configure the system and run some test simulations to make sure the results are what you expect. Assign installation and operating costs on the System Costs page for each case, but ignore the other financial model inputs on the Financial Parameters, Incentives, Time of Delivery Factors, and Depreciation pages.
Next, create a third case using the "Generic System" performance model with the same financial model as the one you used for the PV and power tower cases. Give it a name like "Project" or "Generic." Ignore inputs the Power Plant, Lifetime, Battery Storage and System Costs page. For the financial input pages, assign inputs as appropriate for your project.
Finally, click the Macros button (under Simulate), and then click the "Combine Cases" macro and read the description and instructions. Everything should be set up to run the macro with the "1) Combine all cases" option.
The macro uses the Generic System's "import hourly or subhourly generation profile" option (you can find it on the Power Plant page) to use the combined output of the two systems as input into the financial model so that you can calculate net present value, internal rate of return, PPA price, and other metrics for the two systems. In this example, the macro would add the hourly output of the PV and power tower system and treat that as the output of the combined system.
Best regards,
Paul.
