TMY3 Files

Is it possible to use SAM to generate custom TMY3 files?
SAM 2014.11.24 (and later vesions) use the new SAM CSV weather file format which is a basic comma-separated text format that you can edit and create with spreadsheet software or a text editor. Older versions of SAM only read "standard" TMY3, TMY2, and EPW formats, which made it harder to work with your own data in SAM because those formats contain a lot of extra data not required by SAM, and also have stricter number formatting requirements than the SAM CSV format.
If you want to use your own data in SAM, I would recommend using the SAM CSV format.
See SAM's Help system for a description of the SAM CSV format: Weather Data, Weather File Formats.
You can use SAM's Weather File Converter macro to convert files from those standard formats to SAM CSV.
Best regards,

Paul.

Dear Paul,

I've manually built a SAM CSV weather data file and it works perfectly (for Flat Plate PV, at least). But where I could find this macro to convert my customized TMY3 files (built using old SAM's TMY3 creator) to the new SAM CSV format?

Best Regards,

Sebastián

Dear Sebastián,

To find the macro, first create or open a SAM project file. In the lower left corner of the window, under the "Simulate" button, click "Macros." On the Macros page, click "Weather File Converter" and follow the instructions.

Best regards,
Paul.

i have tried the macro with both TMY3 as well as TMY2 files from Meteonorm 7. it could not execute the tmy3 file, whereas it generated an erroneous file with tmy2. both cases, the macro fails to give the desired results.

The Weather File Converter macro is designed to work with the "standard" files from the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB). We have not tested it with TMY3 format files from other sources like Meteonorm.

Would you mind emailing me examples of TMY2 and TMY3 format files from Meteonorm that we could use for testing? You can email them to sam dot support at nrel dot gov.

Best regards,
Paul.

I found this same issue with CPR's data as well. Little things like having blanks where zeros should be seem to break everything. Hopefully NREL takes a leadership position and has a discussion with all stakeholders on this discussion to move from a "standard" to a standard.