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| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: 'pvlib python: a python package for modeling solar energy systems' |
| 3 | +tags: |
| 4 | + - Python |
| 5 | + - solar energy |
| 6 | + - photovoltaics |
| 7 | + - renewable energy |
| 8 | +authors: |
| 9 | + - name: William F. Holmgren |
| 10 | + orcid: 0000-0001-6218-9767 |
| 11 | + affiliation: 1 |
| 12 | + - name: Clifford W. Hansen |
| 13 | + orcid: 0000-0002-8620-5378 |
| 14 | + affiliation: 2 |
| 15 | + - name: Mark A. Mikofski |
| 16 | + orcid: 0000-0001-8001-8582 |
| 17 | + affiliation: 3 |
| 18 | +affiliations: |
| 19 | + - name: Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona |
| 20 | + index: 1 |
| 21 | + - name: Sandia National Laboratories |
| 22 | + index: 2 |
| 23 | + - name: DNV-GL |
| 24 | + index: 3 |
| 25 | +date: 2 August 2018 |
| 26 | +bibliography: paper.bib |
| 27 | +--- |
| 28 | + |
| 29 | +# Summary |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +pvlib python is a community-supported open source tool that provides a |
| 32 | +set of functions and classes for simulating the performance of |
| 33 | +photovoltaic energy systems. pvlib python aims to provide reference |
| 34 | +implementations of models relevant to solar energy, including for |
| 35 | +example algorithms for solar position, clear sky irradiance, irradiance |
| 36 | +transposition, DC power, and DC-to-AC power conversion. pvlib python is |
| 37 | +an important component of a growing ecosystem of open source tools for |
| 38 | +solar energy [@Holmgren2018]. |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +pvlib python is developed on GitHub by contributors from academia, |
| 41 | +national laboratories, and private industry. pvlib python is released |
| 42 | +with a BSD 3-clause license allowing permissive use with attribution. |
| 43 | +pvlib python is extensively tested for functional and algorithm |
| 44 | +consistency. Continuous integration services check each pull request on |
| 45 | +multiple platforms and Python versions. The pvlib python API is |
| 46 | +thoroughly documented and detailed tutorials are provided for many |
| 47 | +features. The documentation includes help for installation and |
| 48 | +guidelines for contributions. The documentation is hosted at |
| 49 | +readthedocs.org as of this writing. A Google group and StackOverflow tag |
| 50 | +provide venues for user discussion and help. |
| 51 | + |
| 52 | +The pvlib python API was designed to serve the various needs of the many |
| 53 | +subfields of solar power research and engineering. It is implemented in |
| 54 | +three layers: core functions, the ``Location`` and ``PVSystem`` classes, |
| 55 | +and the ``ModelChain`` class. The core API consists of a collection of |
| 56 | +functions that implement algorithms. These algorithms are typically |
| 57 | +implementations of models described in peer-reviewed publications. The |
| 58 | +functions provide maximum user flexibility, however many of the function |
| 59 | +arguments require an unwieldy number of parameters. The next API level |
| 60 | +contains the ``Location`` and ``PVSystem`` classes. These abstractions |
| 61 | +provide simple methods that wrap the core function API layer. The method |
| 62 | +API simplification is achieved by separating the data that represents |
| 63 | +the object (object attributes) from the data that the object methods |
| 64 | +operate on (method arguments). For example, a ``Location`` is |
| 65 | +represented by a latitude, longitude, elevation, timezone, and name, |
| 66 | +which are ``Location`` object attributes. Then a ``Location`` object |
| 67 | +method operates on a ``datetime`` to get the corresponding solar |
| 68 | +position. The methods combine these data sources when calling the |
| 69 | +function layer, then return the results to the user. The final level of |
| 70 | +API is the ``ModelChain`` class, designed to simplify and standardize |
| 71 | +the process of stitching together the many modeling steps necessary to |
| 72 | +convert a time series of weather data to AC solar power generation, |
| 73 | +given a PV system and a location. |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +pvlib python was ported from the PVLib MATLAB toolbox in 2014 |
| 76 | +[@Stein2012, @Andrews2014]. Efforts to make the project more pythonic |
| 77 | +were undertaken in 2015 [@Holmgren2015]. Additional features continue to |
| 78 | +be added, see, for example [@Stein2016, @Holmgren2016] and the |
| 79 | +documentation's "What's New" section. |
| 80 | + |
| 81 | +pvlib python has been used in numerous studies, for example, of solar |
| 82 | +power forecasting [@Gagne2017, @Holmgren2017], development of solar |
| 83 | +irradiance models [@Polo2016], and estimation of photovoltaic energy |
| 84 | +potential [@Louwen2017]. Mikofski et. al. used pvlib python to study |
| 85 | +the accuracy of clear sky models with different aerosol optical depth |
| 86 | +and precipitable water data sources [@Mikofski2017] and to determine the |
| 87 | +effects of spectral mismatch on different PV devices [@Mikofski2016]. |
| 88 | +pvlib python is a foundational piece of an award, "An Open Source |
| 89 | +Evaluation Framework for Solar Forecasting," made under the Department |
| 90 | +of Energy Solar Forecasting 2 program [@DOESF2]. |
| 91 | + |
| 92 | +Plans for pvlib python development includes the implementation of new |
| 93 | +and existing models, addition of functionality to assist with |
| 94 | +input/output, and improvements to API consistency. |
| 95 | + |
| 96 | +The source code for each pvlib python version is archived with Zenodo |
| 97 | +[@pvlibZenodo]. |
| 98 | + |
| 99 | +# Acknowledgements |
| 100 | + |
| 101 | +The authors acknowledge and thank the code, documentation, and |
| 102 | +discussion contributors to the project. |
| 103 | + |
| 104 | +WH acknowledges support from the Department of Energy's Energy |
| 105 | +Efficiency and Renewable Energy Postdoctoral Fellowship Program |
| 106 | +(2014-2016), Tucson Electric Power, Arizona Public Service, and Public |
| 107 | +Service Company of New Mexico (2016-2018), and University of Arizona |
| 108 | +Institute for Energy Solutions (2017-2018). |
| 109 | + |
| 110 | +CH acknowledges support from the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar |
| 111 | +Energy Technology Office. |
| 112 | + |
| 113 | +WH and CH acknowledge support from the Department of Energy Solar |
| 114 | +Forecasting 2 program. |
| 115 | + |
| 116 | +MM acknowledges support from SunPower Corporation (2016-2017). |
| 117 | + |
| 118 | +Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-mission laboratory managed and |
| 119 | +operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, |
| 120 | +LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for |
| 121 | +the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration |
| 122 | +under contract DE-NA-0003525. |
| 123 | + |
| 124 | +# References |
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