Wind Merchant Plant - Cambium error + no revenue

Hi Paul,
Running SAM 2021.12.2 on Windows. I set up a wind merchant plant and noticed two issues. 

• First, attempting to download Cambium data resulted in a "Cambium Error from API".
• I subsequently selected "fixed cleared capacity and time series price" under energy market revenue, input a price /MWh in Single Value mode, and input 100% of generation, but found that the model produces no revenue. 

I was able to get revenues by switching to a Single Owner PPA and inputting a PPA value.

Let me know what you think and thanks in advance.

- Lou

Hi Lou,

My tests confirm that there is a problem with the Cambium price data download. I will investigate and follow up when I learn more.

Your approach of using the fixed cleared capacity and time series price with 100% cleared capacity worked for me. Could you send me a .sam file that demonstrates the results you describe?

Best regards,
Paul.

Hi Paul,
Thanks for your reply. I've attached the .sam file. Curious to hear your thoughts. 

- Lou

Hi Lou,

Thank you for sending the file.

This looks like a bug with the way the table in the Edit Lifetime Data window works. A workaround is to use the Hourly mode instead of Single Value mode and set the price for all rows in the table to the same value. You can export the table of zeroes to a CSV file and then use a spreadsheet program or a text editor to replace them with the value you want. For example, to set the price to a constant $49/MWh:

1. On the Revenue page, on the Energy Market tab, click Enable energy market revenue.
2. Choose Fixed cleared capacity and time series price.
3. For Energy market price for fixed cleared capacity, click Edit lifetime data.
4. Change the mode from Single Value to Hourly.
5. Click Export, and save to a file with the .csv extension.
6. Open the file in a spreadsheet program or text editor, replace zero with the constant price of 49, and save the file.
7. In SAM, assuming the Edit Lifetime Data window is still open, click Import and choose the file from Step 6.
8. Click OK.
9. Set the value of Energy market fixed cleared capacity to a percentage of the generation in a given time step.

We will fix this for the next update to SAM 2021.12.02.

Best regards,
Paul.

Hi Paul,
Were you able to figure out why the Cambium price data download isn't working?

– Lou

Hi Lou,

There is an open issue for the Cambium download problem. We will fix this for the next update:

github.com/NREL/SAM/issues/991

Best regards,
Paul.