Entering monthly load data from utility bills for commercial PV

Under the 'Electric Load" tab for commercial PV, it looks like the way we input monthly (kWh) loads has changed, can you tell me the best way to manually enter monthly utility data (based on monthly utility bills) now to get to an annual commercial load using the SAM 2014.11.24 version? Thanks, Brian

Dear Brian,
The new "Calculate Load Data" option allows you to specify a load using monthly utility bill data and some information about the building's energy performance characteristics. We had intended to include the calculator with both the residential and commercial financial models, but it turns out that the calculator does not work well with commercial building types, so it is only available with the residential financial model.
For now, the commercial model does not have an option for specifying a load using only monthly totals from a utility bill.
You can use the "Download Electric Load" macro to download data from the OpenEI Commercial Building Load Database. That allows you to download load data for 16 representative building types with modeled load data calculated from weather data in the National Solar Radiation Database TMY2 database.
To run the macro, click Macros at the lower left of the Main window, then click Donwload Electric Load in the list of available Macros. Choose a building type from the list at the right of the window, and then click Run macro to download the data and store it as input data on the Electric Load page.
We will work on a better solution for the next update to SAM.
Best regards,

Paul.

Thanks, Paul. Yes, we would appreciate it greatly if you could include a way to input the monthly data for commercial building's, too. Everything else looks great...Brian

Hi Brian,

We are working on a macro that will allow you to scale an hourly profile to monthly totals as a workaround solution until we release the next update. I will post it here with instructions as soon as it is available.

Best regards,
Paul.

Hi Paul, I hope you had a nice holiday break and that your New Year has started off well. When convenient, can you provide me/us with an updates/guidance on the release of the aforementioned 'work-around' macro? Thanks in advance, Brian S.

Hi Brian,
The "Scale Load to Months" macro ( LK 3.8 KB ) should do the trick. To test it:

1. 
   Download the macro from the link above.
2. 
   If SAM is running, close it.
3. 
   Copy the file named "Scale Load to Months.lk" (do not rename it) to the macros folder under "Commercial" of your SAM installation.
   
   It is in the \runtime\macros\Commercial folder, which in Windows should be in C:\SAM\2014.11.24, and in OS X, you can find by opening the SAM package (control-click and click Show Package Contents).
4. 
   Start SAM, and create a case with the commercial financing model.
5. 
   Click Macros. You should see "Scale Load to Months" listed with the other macros.
6. 
   Click Scale Load to Months, and follow the instructions on the screen.

Please try the macro and let me know if run into trouble or have suggestions for improving it.
Best regards,

Paul.