How does SAM calculate monthly PEAK load (kW) values from monthly energy (kWh) values?

(Please see image attached)
In the Electric Load tab, I provided monthly energy values (kWh) by clicking the "Edit..." button. In the monthly load summary, my 12 inputs appear under the "Energy (kWh)" column and I was wondering how the other column of the monthly load summary was calculated, "Peak (kW)".

Thanks in advance Paul or anyone who knows the answer...
Regards,

Fernando.

Dear Fernando,

If I understand correctly, you are using the Residential or Commercial financial model, and on the Electric Load page, chose the "Input Time Series Load Data" option, and checked Normalize supplied load profile to monthly utility bill data, and then clicked Edit values and entered the twelve values for the building's monthly electricity consumption.

When you do that, SAM starts with the default hourly load data, and scales the values for each month up or down to match the monthly values you enter. You can see the result by clicking View load data. For example, here is load data for two months showing the peak value in each month. January is scaled from 750 kWh/mo to 900 kWh/mo, and February from 640 kWh/mo to 400 kWh/mo. The scaled peak for each month (orange) is determined by the shape of the original hourly load profile (blue)



Best regards,
Paul.