SAM Help#
This is the user documentation for the System Advisor Model™ (SAM™) developed by the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR).
Important
To display SAM Help correctly in the Safari web browser on a Mac, go to Settings, Advanced Settings, and enable Show features for web developers. Developer mode is required in Safari to load CSS and Javascript from local files.
See https://sam.nlr.gov for general information about SAM and links to technical references for SAM’s performance and financial models
Go to https://sam.nlr.gov/forum to ask questions and get help from the SAM user community and SAM developers.
See https://sam.nlr.gov/releasenotes for version information.
Download SAM for Windows, Mac, and Linux at https://sam.nlr.gov/download. You can also find links to legacy versions of SAM there.
SAM’s source code is available at NatLabRockies/SAM.
Software developer tools are available at https://sam.nlr.gov/sdk, and the PySAM Python package is available at https://pysam.readthedocs.io.
Getting Started and Reference#
Getting Started and Reference
- Introduction
- Getting Started
- Reference
- Window reference
- Simulation Options
- Release Notes
- SAM 2025.4.16 Revision 2, SSC 306: April 21, 2026
- SAM 2025.4.16 Revision 1, SSC 303: July 24, 2025
- SAM 2025.4.16, SSC 302: April 16, 2025
- SAM 2024.12.12, SSC 298: December 12, 2024
- SAM 2023.12.17 r2, SSC 292: August 23, 2024
- SAM 2023.12.17 r1, SSC 290: March 4, 2024
- SAM 2023.12.17, SSC 288: December 17, 2023
- SAM 2022.11.21 r3, SSC 280: June 3, 2023
- SAM 2022.11.21 r2, SSC 280: May 27, 2023
- SAM 2022.11.21 r1, SSC 279: February 23, 2023
- SAM 2022.11.21, SSC 278: November 21, 2022
- SAM 2021.12.02 r2, SSC 274: June 6 , 2022
- SAM 2021.12.02 r1, SSC 274: February 21, 2022
- SAM 2021.12.02, SSC 267: December 2, 2021
- SAM 2020.11.29 r2, SSC 256: May 12, 2021
- SAM 2020.11.29 r1, SSC 252: February 25, 2021
- SAM 2020.11.29, SSC 250: November 29, 2020
- SAM 2020.2.29 r3, SSC 242: July 31, 2020
- SAM 2020.2.29 r2, SSC 240: May 28, 2020
- SAM 2020.2.29 r1, SSC 238: March 30, 2020
- SAM 2020.2.29, SSC 237: February 29, 2020
- SAM 2018.11.11, SSC 198: November 11, 2018
- SAM 2017.9.5 r4, SSC 186: March 14, 2018
- SAM 2017.9.5 r3, SSC 184: February 21, 2018
- SAM 2017.9.5 r2, SSC 180: October 30, 2017
- SAM 2017.9.5 r1, SSC 179: September 17, 2017
- SAM 2017.9.5 SSC 178: September 5, 2017
- SAM 2017.1.17 r4 SSC 174: June 19, 2017
- SAM 2017.1.17 r3 SSC 173: April 21, 2017
- SAM 2017.1.17 r2 SSC 172: March 30, 2017
- SAM 2017.1.17 r1 SSC 171: March 13, 2017
- SAM 2017.1.17, SSC 170: January 2017
- SAM 2016.3.14 r4, SSC 160: September 2016
- SAM 2016.3.14 r3, SSC 160: September 2016
- SAM 2016.3.14 r2, SSC 159: July 2016
- SAM 2016.3.14 r1, SSC 159: April 2016
- SAM 2016.3.14, SSC 159: March 2016
- SAM 2015.6.30 r4, SSC 47: October 2015
- SAM 2015.6.30 r2, SSC 47: August 2015
- SAM 2015.6.30 r1, SSC 46: July 2015
- SAM 2015.6.30, SSC 45: June 2015
- SAM 2015.1.30 r1, SSC 41: March 2015
- SAM 2015.1.30, SSC 41: January 2015
- SAM 2014.11.24, SSC 40: November 2014
- SAM 2014.1.14: January 2014 (Update)
- SAM 2013.9.20: September 2013
- SAM 2013.1.15: January 2013 (Update)
- SAM 2012.11.30: November 2012
- SAM 2012.5.11: May 2012
- SAM 2011.12.2: December 2011 (Update)
- SAM 2011.11.29: November 2011
- SAM 2011.6.30: June 2011 (Update)
- SAM 2011.5.23: May 2011 (Update)
- SAM 2011.5.4: May 2011
- SAM 2010.10.8: October 2010
- SAM 2010.4.12: April 2010 (Update)
- SAM 2010.3.31: March 2010
- Version 2009.10.2: October 2009
- Version 3.0: June 2009
- Version 2.5: November 2008
- Version 2.0: June 2008
- Version 1.3: October 16, 2007
- Version 1.1: August 10, 2007
Weather Data#
Weather Data
Performance Models#
Performance Models
Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power
- CSP Empirical Trough Model
- CSP Physical Trough Model
- CSP Power Tower Molten Salt
- CSP Linear Fresnel Direct Steam
- CSP Linear Fresnel Molten Salt
- CSP Generic Solar
- IPH Parabolic Trough
- IPH Linear Fresnel Direct Steam
- IPH Linear Fresnel Molten Salt
- IPH Power Tower Molten Salt
- Electric Thermal Energy Storage
- Pumped Thermal Energy Storage
Degradation#
Degradation
Grid#
Grid
Financial Models#
Results#
3D Shade Calculator#
3D Shade Calculator