Starting a Project |  |  |  |

| This is a new topic for SAM 2009 Beta. This topic will describe a new feature in SAM 2009 Beta that did not exist in SAM 3.0. or information that was not included in older versions of Help.

When you first start Solar Advisor, it displays the Welcome page where you choose whether to open a sample template, start a new project, or open a recent file:

• | Starting from a sample template means creating a project file using data from a template. Each templates stores a complete set of inputs and results for an analysis example that demonstrates either a feature of the software or one of the technologies. Unlike project files, templates cannot be modified. When you save a project created from a template, Solar Advisor creates a copy of the template that you can modify without affecting the data in the template.

• | Starting a new project means selecting a technology and market for your analysis. When you start a new project, all of the variables on the input pages are populated with default values, but no results are displayed on the Results page until you configure and run simulations.

• | Opening a recent file means choosing from a list of project files. The list contains project files that were saved during previous Solar Advisor sessions.

Note: The costs in the sample files are intended to illustrate Solar Advisor's use. The cost data are meant to be realistic, but not to represent actual costs for a specific project. Actual costs will vary depending on the market, technology and geographic location of a project. Because of price volatility in solar markets, the cost data in the sample files is likely to be out of date. For more information see the Solar Advisor Model website, https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/sam/cost_data.html.

The sample templates are:

Combined Multiple PV Systems Example demonstrates the Multiple Systems feature, which is useful for modeling a system that consists of subsystems with different characteristics. For example, a PV system that consists of one west facing array and one south facing array. Solar Advisor simulates each subsystem separately, but calculates electrical output, levelized cost of energy and other metrics for the entire system

Excel Sample demonstrates the Excel Exchange feature, which allows Solar Advisor to exchange input variable data with an Excel workbook. This feature is useful when you want to use external models developed in Excel to generate values of inputs for Solar Advisor.

PV Battery Storage Sample...

PV Shading Example...

Sample Dish Stirling Systems...

Sample PV Systems...

Sample Parabolic Trough Systems...

Sample Power Tower System...

Scripting With SamUL Example...

Statistical Analysis Sample...