combine cases shuts down SAM

I have set up two wind farm (difft locations) simulations which run fine in LCOE mode.   I am now trying to combine them by adding a generic system running in LCOE mode to the file.    I can select the Generic Power Plant/ calculate generation profiles and nameplate.... button fine.  But when I click on Select Cases button, SAM disappears entireley (even the help window).  Ergo, can't select the calses and no calculations appear to have been performed. 

Suggestions? 

SAM Version:   SSC Version 274: Windows 64 bit Visual C++ Jun 6 2022 00:03:36
wxWidgets 3.1.5 on Windows 10 (build 19044), 64-bit edition
Internet connection method: default
Display: 1920 x 1080, magnification 1x
Windows 10 Pro v 21H2 OS build 19044.2130

Hi Brock,

There are two separate issues here.

1. The Generic System model's calculate generation profiles and nameplate capacity from open cases" (combine cases) feature causes SAM to crash when one of the cases being combined generates a simulation error. This is a bug that we will fix: github.com/NREL/SAM/issues/1238 .

To avoid this issue, run a simulation for each of the cases being combined an make sure there are no errors and that the results are what you expect before using them to create a generation profile for the Generic System case.

2. There may be a problem with the wind resource file you are using that is causing the simulation error. Please verify that the file meets the format requirements described in the "SRW Format for Wind" topic in Help: samrepo.nrelcloud.org/help/weather_format_srw_wind.htm . If the file is correctly formatted, please attach a copy of the wind resource file so I can help troubleshoot.

Best regards,
Paul.

Hi Paul -Thx for fast reply

I have run both cases individually and they perform as expected with no noted errors.  They use the same wind file as we are looking at new different turbines right next to the old ones. 

I have also run both cases as Single Owner PPA's feeding into the same generic systems with the same complete crash as I try to select cases.  

However, when I ran the single Owner PPA files into a BESS + generic combine file - I was able to see the cases and load them and get the sim to run.    Based on this, I doubt it is the wind file or dependent on the financial model type used?      The wind file is attached in any case....

Hi Brock,

Thank you for attaching your wind resource file. This is a bug that we will have to fix. I'm not sure yet of the cause.

In the meantime, as a workaround solution, you can manually "combine" the generation profiles of the two cases:

1. Run a simulation for the "New WT" case.
2. On the Data Tables tab of the results page, click Clear all, and then display "System power generated" under "Hourly Data."
3. Click Save as CSV to save the data to a CSV file.
4. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for the "Old WT" case.
5. Click Copy to clipboard.
5. Open the results.csv file in a spreadsheet program and paste the data into a new column in the file.
6. Create another column with the sums of the two system power generated values and select the data in the column without the header row.
7. In SAM, go to the "All Wind" case's Power Plant page and choose Import hourly or subhourly generation profile from file.
8. Click Edit array, and click Paste.

Best regards,
Paul.

wilco thanks

Paul - just some further comments on this topic.  I have run a wind case and a solar case feeding into the Generic System model and it seems to work fine - so maybe your thought about it being something related to wind is right !!