Course Description: This five-hour course introduces participants to the System Advisor Model (SAM). SAM is a free software for techno-economic modeling of renewable energy projects provided by the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and is used by project developers, system designers, researchers, and others involved in making technical and financial decisions about renewable energy projects.  

Participants will work through examples of a residential/commercial rooftop PV system and cover assumptions for system design, retail electricity rates, and building loads, and analyze model results such as performance ratio, net present value (NPV), and payback period.  

Live Zoom sessions with instructor Paul Gilman are Fridays 12:00 -1:30 pm CT (9/29, 10/6) & 12-12:30 pm CT (10/13). Attendance is not required but is highly encouraged to get the most from the course, since SAM will be demonstrated in real-time. Sessions will be recorded for those who cannot attend. 

A completion certificate is issued when the coursework is submitted on or before the end date and the two assignments have received passing grades.