Exporting SAM results for solar in sub-hourly format

Hi Paul,

Can you tell me how to export the results of a commercial solar system SAM simulation in a 15-min sub-hourly format for external analysis? I see that it can be done in kW's by the hour (8760), but I'd like to get the information on a sub-hourly basis if possible. Thanks, Brian S.

Hi Brian,
You should be able to export subhourly data using the same method you use for hourly data.
For example, on the Results page Data tab, you should see a category for the 15-minute data. If you do not see the 15-minute category, you may need to run a simulation to generate results:

Or, if you export data from the Time Series tab, the data you see should match the time step of the weather data, in this case 15-minute data:

Best regards,

Paul.

Thank you very much, Paul. Greatly appreciate the support...Brian S.

Dear Paul,

Should this work for the 2017.1.17 SAM version as well? (I've tried installing the 2017.9.5 update - when I try to run SAM, I receive an error "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b) Click OK to close the application"

In the 2017.1.17 SAM version, I've tried simulating a molten salt tower project with 10min data. It finishes running, however in the "Data" tab when viewing the results, there is no "10 Minute Data" tab that can be expanded or viewed. I've tried using a 15min solar resource file, but no luck either. Any advice?

Kind regards,
Ernest

Applogies Paul, seems to be a mistake from my side, just figured it out. (not sure how to delete my comment above)

Thanks
Ernest

Dear Ernest,

When you run a simulation, SAM generates hourly or subhourly time series data that you can see on the Results page. If you save the file and close it, SAM discards this data to keep the file size small, but keeps the results that are not large time series arrays. When you reopen the file, you may see some results on the Results page, but not the time series data -- you have to run a simulation to regenerate the time series data.

If you save the file with hourly results (an option on the File menu), then SAM will save the time series data so it will be available when you reopen the file. Note that the option on the File menu is "Save with hourly results" but it actually saves the time series data in whatever time step you are using, so in your case, it would save 10 minute data instead of hourly data.

Best regards,
Paul.