CSP Trough Error: SVAL LOOKUP ERROR trnsys.user_trdsrc

Hello,

This appears to be an error caused by weather files; however, the error is only encountered for certain technologies (CSP power tower works fine for the attached file as does PV). Also, some weather files work for CSP trough while others do not (All my test weather files are downloaded directly from solar prospector using SAM).

When my simulation is ~55% done I am presented with the following errors:

MSG[0]: SVAL LOOKUP ERROR trnsys.user_trdsrc
MSG[1]: SVAL LOOKUP ERROR trnsys.user_exe_deck_enabled
MSG[2]: SVAL LOOKUP ERROR trnsys.user_exe_deck_enabled
MSG[3]: SVAL LOOKUP ERROR trnsys.user_exe
MSG[4]: SVAL LOOKUP ERROR trnsys.user_args
MSG[5]: TrnModel::ReadOutput[ncol=73 nalloc=8760 lnchars=3800] = 263 msec
MSG[6]: TrnModel::ReadOutput[ncol=28 nalloc=12 lnchars=2400] = 1 msec
MSG[7]: TrnModel::ReadOutput[ncol=28 nalloc=2 lnchars=1800]

I am using SAM version 2013.1.15 and one of the offending weather file is attached.

Many thanks,
Ryan Jones

Dear Ryan,

One reason that a one performance model may fail while another does not with the same weather file is that the different models use different data elements from the file. For example, the CSP models use dew point temperature, wet bulb temperature, and relative humidity, while the PV models do not. If there is a problems with the values of one of those elements, the CSP model would fail, but the PV model would not.

I downloaded similar files to the one you attached, and it looks like the specific-year TMY2 files (at least for that location) do not run in SAM with the physical trough model. The typical year data files do seem to run. Did you try sending feedback to the Solar Prospector team from the website?

On a related note, the "Location Lookup" feature in SAM, which downloads data directly from the Solar Prospector database, is temporarily not working because of an issue with our use of the Google Geocoding API (which translates a street address or location name to a latitude an longitude). We are working to resolve that issue and will issue a patch to fix it as soon as we can. (As of March 28, 2013.)

Best regards,
Paul.