Customer Support and Services

The "Reference Guide" explains how the software is organized, which functionalities and settings are available, and where to find them. It describes the GUI and the API and introduces a set of typographical conventions to recognize objects, concepts, and properties. The Reference Guide starts with an overview of the software’s architecture (As described in section 1.2 in this document). The most significant part of the Reference Guide is dedicated to a presentation of the GUI, with subsections dedicated to the ribbon bar, the dock panel, and the status bar. In the "Objects" chapter, all modeled objects in SAInt are described, along with their properties, relationships, set of events, and basic and derived results. In the "Scenario" chapter, each simulation or optimization strategy is presented based on the type of network the user needs to model. The "Data Exchange" chapter discusses the capabilities of SAInt to import or export model data or results from and to different formats, like Microsoft Excel™, comma-separated values (CSV) tables, or shapefiles for geographic data, utilizing templates. The chapter "Functions, Expressions and Conditions" uses examples and charts to detail how to use the built-in IronPython scripting capabilities to create customized plots and tables, carry out calculations on results, or implement conditional statements for a "what-if logic" in the simulation. Finally, the Reference Guide covers the use, calls, and methods available in the API using examples and snippets of reusable code. The local copy of the "Reference Guide" can be accessed at any moment from SAInt by using the keyboard shortcut F1. When a user hovers over an icon, object, or section of the GUI and presses F1, they will be redirected to the relevant section for that element.

The "How-to Guides" section of SAInt documentation is designed to support a user’s daily activities. Each How-to Guide addresses a specific and well-defined set of steps guiding the user from one point to another. How-to Guides cover the most frequent tasks and actions a user performs in SAInt and is divided into five different sub-sections, including "Generic", "Electricity Markets", "Gas Networks", "Electricity Networks" and "Combined". The "Generic" sub-section of the How-to Guides covers actions like defining a network, creating a scenario, editing the topology, or importing data from external data sources. The how-to guides in the Electricity Markets section address actions such as outage periods, transmission losses, or flexible demand. The "Gas Networks" section provides step-by-step instructions for actions like creating and editing new gas objects in a network, creating and editing a gas component, and importing and exporting gas qualities. The "Electricity Networks" sub-section covers topics like adding new facilities or fuel types, retrieving wind turbine data, connecting to meteorological data providers, or adding ancillary services. The "Combined" sub-section contains how-to guides showing the sequence of steps to create a hub system and facility. The "How-to Guides" are recommended for users new to SAInt or would like a refresher on certain topics in SAInt.

The "Tutorials" section of SAInt’s documentation provides step-by-step actions on how to use SAInt in real-world industry case studies. SAInt’s advanced functionalities and tools are explored, along with examples of advanced charting, results post-processing, and scenario assessment. The Tutorial section is for users who want to broaden their knowledge of the software, take full advantage of its flexibility, and find better solutions to complex problems. Tutorials engage the user in a self-guided set of step-by-step exercises. They are recommended for any user who prefers a self-paced and self-taught training plan to deepen the understanding of how to address energy systems models practically. As with any other part of SAInt’s documentation, they are constantly under revision and extended to new cases. The available list of tutorials is:

Users can further their technical knowledge of SAInt in the "Learn More" section of SAInt’s documentation. The "Learn More" section provides a mathematical explanation of how SAInt represents and describes objects used in building energy systems. The Learn More section is recommended for the SAInt user interested in learning more about how SAInt operates and how SAInt can be used to solve problems.

The current solar weather resource data providers integrated into SAInt are the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB), owned and maintained by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the Photovoltaic Geographical Information System (PVGIS), managed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. The database allows users to collect solar weather resource data into SAInt from around the world (Figure 1). Through solar weather resource data, users can access global horizontal irradiance (GHI), direct normal irradiance (DNI), diffuse horizontal irradiance (DHI), air temperature, and wind speed.

Figure 1 and Table 1 describe the solar geographical coverage across the globe. SAInt uses the PVWatts (no financial model) of the System Advisor Model (SAM) developed by NREL to calculate solar PV generation profiles. SAM is a techno-economic model designed to facilitate decision-making for people in the renewable energy industry. This model generates time series data representing solar electricity production for each PV object over a year. The generated profile timestep depends on the weather data’s temporal resolution and inputs describing the system’s nameplate capacity, array orientation, mounting type, system losses, etc.

The WIND Toolkit is owned and maintained by NREL. SAInt has a built-in wind power performance model to calculate a wind power plant’s power generation time series. The database allows users to collect wind weather resource data into SAInt from around the world (Figure 2). Through wind weather resource data, users can access wind speed, wind direction, air pressure, and air temperature at different locations and heights.

Figure 2 and Table 2 describe the wind geographical coverage across the globe. SAInt has a built-in wind power performance model to calculate a wind power plant’s power generation time series. The generated profile time step depends on the weather data’s temporal resolution and inputs describing the system’s nameplate capacity, wind turbine power curve, system losses, etc. This model generates time series data representing wind electricity production for each WIND object over a year. The installation folder gives the user a database of over 200 wind turbine power curves based on commercial data from over 40 manufacturers.

Non-commercial MRDs are available in the "SAInt community forum". They could be curated either by encoord or by members of the community. Two examples of non-commercial MDRs are:

Commercial MRDs can be purchased by the SAInt user. encoord can develop ad hoc electric, gas, thermal, and combined models upon request. The available commercial MRDs are:

Synergi gas is a hydraulic modeling simulation tool. SAInt provides a conversion tool that supports importing and converting Synergi Gas models to SAInt gas networks and scenarios. The objects from the Synergi model are converted to the SAInt object types using as much of the original data as possible. Benchmarking between SAInt and Synergi gas has been verified on many test networks and physical systems. The tool will utilize default properties if data is unavailable. This conversion tool is integrated into the SAInt software and requires no additional software or installations.

CYME is an industry-standard distribution simulation tool. SAInt is capable of receiving CYME datasets and converting them in a one-to-one manner to SAInt objects, and applying the UACPF scenario type to arrive at the unbalanced power flow results. This translation has been validated to ensure the power flow results between the tools are identical. With this conversion, CYME users can immediately convert to the SAInt data framework and continue working on their models with the additional features that SAInt provides. This translation tool is not integrated into SAInt but provides an easy-to-use Python script.

OpenDSS is an open-source distribution tool that is used by researchers and utility owners. The OpenDSS data can be directly translated to the SAInt data framework for use in the UACPF scenario. This translation tool is not integrated into SAInt but provides an easy-to-use Python script.

PSS®E is one of the industry standard power flow simulation tools. There is support for PSS®E .raw files to be converted directly to the SAInt *.enet file format, supporting all the core power flow functionality, from off-nominal turns ratios with transformers to automatic tap control and switched shunt behavior. Benchmarking between SAInt and PSS®E has been verified on many test networks and physical systems. This translation tool is not integrated into SAInt but provides an easy-to-use Python script.