Abstract
The system Advisor Model (SAM) developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with funds by the United States (US) Department of Energy (DOE) is a free, publicly available modeling software designed to evaluate renewable energy system design, performance, and project economics. Since the software’s launch in 2007, new versions have been released annually, adding to the collection of technologies and financing options it can accommodate. The marine energy module, which includes wave and tidal energy technologies, were added to SAM in 2019. SAM’s marine energy module is a standardized, user-friendly modeling platform that estimates annual energy production (AEP), capital expenditures (CapEx), operational expenditures (OpEx), the levelized cost of energy (LCOE), and other metrics for marine energy systems.
In this work, SAM is used to conduct case studies for both wave and tidal energy systems. Each case study provides an overview of performance and cost modeling using SAM, while also highlighting the tool’s built-in analysis and reporting capabilities.
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