Differences of results between the desktop version and the SDK one

Hello, I'm new to the SDK. I notice that the results of the financial model are different when calculated with the Desktop version or with the code generated by SAM 2018.11.11 itself (I tried with Python 2, Python 3, and Matlab). For example, the size of debt value is 284 millions for the desktop version, but 259 millions for the generated code. Can anyone explain me why this is happening?



Thank you a lot in advance.

Hi,

There are a couple of things that might cause differences between results generated by SAM and those generated by code you write that calls the SSC API:

1. SAM is using a different SSC library than your code.
2. There are differences in the inputs between SAM and your code.
3. Different rounding errors in SAM and your code.

SAM's code generator should automatically copy the SSC library file from the SAM installation to the folder with your code, and assign input variable values identical to the inputs in SAM.

The debt_option input may be responsible for the size of debt difference in your results.

Best regards,
Paul.

Thank you for your answer! After a few investigations, the problem seems to be different rounding errors between SAM and the generated code. I have to say that I have no idea of how to solve that issue.

One approach might be to present your results rounded to the nearest meaningful digit. For example, perhaps round annual energy to the nearest MWh like 244,864,000 kWh.

Best regards,
Paul.

Actually, the "PPA price (year 1)" looks quite different.