PVWatts for MEXICO

Hello,

The online version of the PVWatts calculator does not support projects located in MEXICO

We acquired weather files (in EPW format) for over 20 locations within MEXICO and they work fine with the SAM application

... but since Utility Rates in Mexico are quite different from the US (different prices-per-kwh apply to different levels of consumption and to different regions) we now wish to build a web application to build/calculate grid-tie residential pv projects in Mexico

... think of a customized version of the "PVWatts online calculator" that includes weather files and utility rates for MEXICO:

(1) the user selects a location and enters the residence's estimated/typical/historical monthly energy consumption ... with this, the app could estimate/project the residence's "normal" monthly Utility payments (for the next 20-25 years)

(2) the user enters a system-size, azimuth, tilt, and derate-factors ... with this, the app could estimate the system's monthly energy output (sending the pv system's data to a server-side CGI written in Python >>> which in turn access' SAM-SDK SSC core files/modules/libraries to calculate and returns the system's estimated energy output -ACKwh-per-month- to the client/app)

(3) with this, the app could estimate the residence's "net" energy consumption and project the residence's "net" monthly Utility payments (for the next 20-25 years)
and providing it had an estimate of the system's total cost/investment, it could calculate the expected ROI rate

I am not a web-developer but parts 1 and 3 seem pretty standard so I am sure a novice web-developer could handle these parts
... but I am not sure about the 2nd part (accessing SSC core modules/libraries to calculate and retrieve the pv-system's expected energy output)
... I downloaded SAM SDK, reviewed some of it's documentation (webinar video and SSC guide) and played a bit with the SSCdev.app and it does not look too complicated

But before hiring a web-developer I would like to know your opinion
... if we wrote a script it Python and copied it into the cgi-bin directory of a web-server along with copies of the SSC Core files (libraries, modules, weather-files, etc), will the python script be able run/access the SSC Core files (libraries, modules, weather-files, etc) ?
... can/should we use javascript/AJAX methods to send and retrieve data between the client and the mentioned server-side CGI script written in Python?

We will really appreciate any suggestions, sample-scripts and/or tutorials that could help us accomplish this.

Thank you,
Americo Maiz
Monterrey, MEXICO

Dear Americo,

Python may be your best option for developing a web application using the SAM SDK because we have included a Python wrapper in the SDK. It would also be possible to write your own interface for other languages or platforms such as Ruby on Rails or PHP.

Does anyone else who has developed a web app with the SAM SDK have suggestions?

Best regards,
Paul.

Dear Paul Gilman,

Thank you for your comments/suggestions.

Suppose we wrote a script it Python and copied it into the cgi-bin directory of a web-server along with copies of the SSC Core files (libraries, modules, weather-files, etc), will the python script be able run/access the SSC Core files (libraries, modules, weather-files, etc) ?

Can/should we use javascript/AJAX methods to send and retrieve data between the web client and the server-side CGI script written in Python?

Could you recomend us a web-developer that could make this web app for us?

Please advise

Regards, Americo

are the cgi scripts used by the online version of PVwatts written in Python? ... if so, could you provide us with copies of these scripts?

please advise

regards, americo