Hybrid Plant Components

The HybridPlant class manages all plant components in Hercules. It handles initialization, execution, and coordination of individual components while computing plant-level outputs.

Overview

HybridPlant auto-discovers components from the h_dict at initialization time. Any top-level h_dict entry whose value is a dict containing a component_type key is treated as a plant component. The YAML key becomes the component’s component_name (a user-chosen instance identifier), and the component_type value determines which Python class is instantiated.

See Component Names, Types, and Categories for a full explanation of how component_name, component_type, and component_category relate to each other.

Available Components

component_type	component_category	Generator?	Documentation
WindFarm	generator	Yes	Wind
WindFarmSCADAPower	generator	Yes	Wind
SolarPySAMPVWatts	generator	Yes	Solar PV
BatterySimple	storage	No	Battery
BatteryLithiumIon	storage	No	Battery
ElectrolyzerPlant	load	No	Electrolyzer
OpenCycleGasTurbine	generator	Yes	Open Cycle Gas Turbine

The YAML key for each section is a user-chosen component_name and is not required to match the category name. For example, a BatterySimple component could be named battery, battery_unit_1, or anything else.

Generator Classification

HybridPlant classifies components into generators and non-generators based on component_category. Components with component_category == "generator" have their power outputs summed into h_dict["plant"]["locally_generated_power"] each time step. Storage and load components are excluded from this sum.

Component Registry

All available component types are defined in COMPONENT_REGISTRY at the top of hercules/hybrid_plant.py. This dictionary maps component_type strings to their Python classes:

COMPONENT_REGISTRY = {
    "WindFarm": WindFarm,
    "WindFarmSCADAPower": WindFarmSCADAPower,
    "SolarPySAMPVWatts": SolarPySAMPVWatts,
    "BatterySimple": BatterySimple,
    "BatteryLithiumIon": BatteryLithiumIon,
    "ElectrolyzerPlant": ElectrolyzerPlant,
    "OpenCycleGasTurbine": OpenCycleGasTurbine,
}

When adding a new component type, it must be registered here. See Adding Components for a complete guide.