A comprehensive solar technology systems analysis model, the Solar Advisor Model (SAM), has been developed to support the federal R&D community and the solar industry by staff at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratory. This model is able to model the finances, incentives, and performance of flat-plate photovoltaic (PV), concentrating PV, and concentrating solar power (specifically, parabolic troughs).The primary function of the model is to allow users to investigate the impact of variations in performance, cost, and financial parameters to better understand their impact on key figures of merit. Figures of merit related to the cost and performance of these systems include, but aren't limited to, system output, system efficiencies, levelized cost of energy, return on investment, and system capital and O&M costs.SAM allows users to do complex system modeling with an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI). In fact, all tables and graphics for this paper are taken directly from the model GUI. This model has the capability to compare different solar technologies within the same interface, making use of similar cost and finance assumptions. Additionally, the ability to do parametric and sensitivity analysis is central to this model.There are several models within SAM to model the performance of photovoltaic modules and inverters. This paper presents an overview of each PV and inverter model, introduces a new generic model, and briefly discusses the concentrating solar power (CSP) parabolic trough model. A comparison of results using the different PV and inverter models is also presented.
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