pvlib.pvsystem.retrieve_sam

pvlib.pvsystem.retrieve_sam(name=None, samfile=None)[source]

Retrieve latest module and inverter info from SAM website.

This function will retrieve either:

  • CEC module database
  • Sandia Module database
  • CEC Inverter database

and return it as a pandas dataframe.

Parameters:

name : String

Name can be one of:

  • ‘CECMod’ - returns the CEC module database
  • ‘CECInverter’ - returns the CEC Inverter database
  • ‘SandiaInverter’ - returns the CEC Inverter database (CEC is only current inverter db available; tag kept for backwards compatibility)
  • ‘SandiaMod’ - returns the Sandia Module database

samfile : String

Absolute path to the location of local versions of the SAM file. If file is specified, the latest versions of the SAM database will not be downloaded. The selected file must be in .csv format.

If set to ‘select’, a dialogue will open allowing the user to navigate to the appropriate page.
Returns:

A DataFrame containing all the elements of the desired database.

Each column represents a module or inverter, and a specific dataset

can be retrieved by the command

Examples

>>> from pvlib import pvsystem
>>> invdb = pvsystem.retrieve_sam(name='CECInverter')
>>> inverter = invdb.AE_Solar_Energy__AE6_0__277V__277V__CEC_2012_
>>> inverter
Vac           277.000000
Paco         6000.000000
Pdco         6165.670000
Vdco          361.123000
Pso            36.792300
C0             -0.000002
C1             -0.000047
C2             -0.001861
C3              0.000721
Pnt             0.070000
Vdcmax        600.000000
Idcmax         32.000000
Mppt_low      200.000000
Mppt_high     500.000000
Name: AE_Solar_Energy__AE6_0__277V__277V__CEC_2012_, dtype: float64