Size of the Database

Hi, 

I would like to know if I could roughly see anywhere how big the SAM database is (including all of the components for the different types of renewable energy systems, i.e. batteries, modules, etc.).

Thanks in advance,

Ole

Hi Ole,

I'm not sure what you mean by the size of the SAM database.

The SAM desktop application requires about 400 MB of disk storage space. A .sam file varies in size depending on the type of system being modeled, but is typically between about 75 KB and 1.5 MB.

Best regards,
Paul.

Hi Paul,
First of all, thank you for your quick answer and sorry if i didnt express myself clear enough.

I am currently writing a thesis on multiple software programms which all deal with renewable energy systems (including SAM)
To rate them properly I want to compare these programms in different categories such as: Price, Size of the Database, extensibility, accuracy of the meteofiles, etc.

So to compare the size of the databases roughly i would like to know if i could look up the amount of all components which are included in SAM, anywhere ?

Best regards, 
Ole

Hi Ole,

If you want to see the size of component libraries that come with SAM, you can see them as CSV files in the SAM GitHub repository:

github.com/NREL/SAM/tree/develop/deploy/libraries

SAM downloads weather files from the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB), so it does not come with meteorological data files, except for a few example files.

nsrdb.nrel.gov

The best way to evaluate these resources would be to install the software and explore them. You can download SAM for free from sam.nrel.gov/download .

Best regards,
Paul