CSP and Wind models combination

Dear Mr. Gilman,

I hope this finds well.

In addition to the problem I am facing in the loop (that I mentioned in my last enquiry), I found another problem in the code. It seems like it is mixing between the individual cases outputs with the total combined case output. The first three results of the loop are perfect (see the attached file), however after that the code mixes up the combined case output for that of the SPT..

I attached a word file with couple of screenshots in order to see what I mean exactly.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Regards,
Mohammed

Hi Mohammed,

See the attached LK scripts for some ideas of how to do this.

Also, be sure to refer to the LK reference, which you can find by clicking Help, and then Scripting reference at the top of the Help window.

Best regards,
Paul.

Dear Mr. Gilman,

I hope this finds you well.

I have been trying to output the LCOE of a combined CSP-Wind model using the LK. The problem is that I cannot find the fixed charge rate (FCR) whether in the variables in the LK environment or in the outputs of SAM performance model.

I followed the ''A Manual for the Economic Evaluation of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technologies'' and found it is calculated in three different ways. In the case there is no tax, the FCR = UCRF + P1 + P2,

where UCRF is the uniform capital recovery factor,
P1 is annual insurance cost as a percentage of total plant investment in red or nominal dollars, depending on the form of the UCRF
and P2 is the other taxes (i.e., property taxes) paid annually as a percentage of total plant investment in real or nominal dollars, depending on the form of the UCRF.

However, the problem again is the that while UCRF can be calculated, I cannot seem to find P1 and P2 whether in the variables in the LK environment or in the outputs of SAM performance model.

One last thing, I just wanted to make sure that the other variables that I am using in the script are the ones meant in the LCOE calculator help tap:
- AEP = 'annual_energy_pre_curtailment_ac'
- TCC = 'cost_installed'
- FOC = 'om_fixed'
- VOC = 'om_prodcution'

Thanks in advance for your help and time.

Regards,
Mohammed

Hi Mohammed,

The following sample LK script should help answer your question:

github.com/NREL/SAM/blob/patch/samples/LK%20Scripts%20for%20SAM/fcr-from-ppa-single-owner-inputs.lk

If you still have questions, please attach a short LK script that shows what you are trying to do and I will try to help troubleshoot.

Best regards,
Paul.

Dear Mr. Gilman,

Thanks a lot for the reply, I really appreciate it and my apologies for the late reply from my side.

I am simply trying assess the combination of solar power tower (SPT) and wind (WT) while varying:
1) the solar multiple (1 to 4 with a step size of 0.2) and TES (0 to18h with a step size of 1h) of the 50 MW SPT.
2) the number of WT (5 to 25 WT with a step size of 5 WT, each WT is 2 MW). 

The assessment is based on the annual energy generation, the LCOE, the capacity factor and the net capital cost of the SPT-WT different combined configurations.

All the assessment figures calculation for the combined SPT-WT has been more straight forward as it is an aggregation of the latter performance models outputs. However, I am stuck in the combined case LCOE calculation. The Fixed Charge Rate (FCR) was the missing figure for the calculation of the LCOE of the combined SPT-WT.

I managed to run the script you referred to post little modification in my financial inputs. However, I realized that this equation is for LCOE_FCR calculation and not the real LCOE:
FCR*TCC + FOC)/AEP + VOC

Now I have a new enquiry:
when I tried to calculate the real LCOE as it instructed in the help menu (Levelizied cost of energy under financial parameters tap) but could not find a similar value of LCOE as the one shown in the results summary.
These were my inputs:
Qn = Electricity to grid (from data tables - annual data).
Cn= Annual costs (from data tables - annual data).
dnominal = SAM input.
dreal = SAM input.
Co = Equity (from results summary).

Are the real and nominal discount rates entered as percentages in the equation or as they are?

In addition, for the combined case, logically I should add up both SPT and WT Electricity delivered by the system to the grid (Qn) and The annual project costs in Year n (Cn), but what about the equity? shall I also added both equities in order to get a combined Co for the real LCOE equation?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Regards,

Hi Mohammed,

There are two different LCOE calculations in SAM:

One uses a cash flow model (residential, commercial, single owner, etc.) and is described in this Help topic: samrepo.nrelcloud.org/help/mtf_lcoe.htm

The other uses the fixed charge rate (FCR) method and is described here: samrepo.nrelcloud.org/help/fin_lcoefcr.htm

Best regards,
Paul.