Fetch Resource Files: GOES Conus: PSM v4

Hi, 

I am looking to run PVWatts with a single year (e.g., 2024) weather file obtained from the NSRDB GOES Conus PSM v4 data at the 2km spatial resolution and 60-minute temporal resolution for n locations across y states in the US. I am unclear if I can use files.ResourceTools.FetchResourceFiles to download this data via PySAM and the NSRDB API or do I need to just use the NSRDB API and convert the data into a SAM compatible format. Any guidance is much appreciated. 

Thank you, 

Adam 

Hi Adam,

If you are running PVWatts in SAM, you can download PSM GOES V4 files for any year from 1998 to 2024 by using the "Choose year" option on the Location and Resource page:

 

If you are using the PySAM package to run the PVWatts module from code you write in Python, you can either use the FetchResourceFiles tool or write your own code to interact with the appropriate NREL Developer API. The NSRDB API endpoints deliver files in the SAM CSV format, so you do not need to convert the data to use the files with SAM or PySAM.

Given that the FetchResourceFiles tool needs to be updated to work with the latest NSRDB datasets (as written, it downloads data from the older PSM V3 dataset), I would recommend writing your own code to access data from GOES V4 datasets.

There are two relevant API endpoints: 

• GOES Conus PSM v4 provides access to data from 2018 to 2024:  developer.nrel.gov/docs/solar/nsrdb/nsrdb-GOES-conus-v4-0-0-download/
• GOES Aggregated PSM v4 combines data from GOES Conus PSM v4 for 2018 to 2024 with data from older datasets for 1998 to 2017: developer.nrel.gov/docs/solar/nsrdb/nsrdb-GOES-aggregated-v4-0-0-download/

For 2024, you should get the same files from either of those two endpoints.

Best regards,
Paul.