DER VET User Guide/Outputs

adv_monthly_bill.csv

The "advanced monthly bill" output file shows a relational data frame containing each energy and demand charge component for each month of each optimization year. The 'billing period' column allows you to match the charge back to the input tariff file and see exactly what component of the tariff incurs what charges at what time. This table breaks out "original" charges, which are what the charge would be without any DER, from the charges themselves, which are with all DER.

cost_benefit.csv

This file contains lifetime present value costs and benefits for each benefit and cost component of the analysis, along with a row called "Lifetime Present Value", which is the total present value for both the cost and benefit column.

dervet_log.log

This is a log file, useful for diagnosing problems.

energyp_map.csv

This file shows a rectangular table of the price of energy, whether from a time series input or a retail tariff. This is useful for making a heatmap of energy prices, showing hour of the day along the y-axis, day of the year along the x-axis, and the price of energy in color.

equipment_lifetimes.csv

This file contains a column for each DER with rows showing the DER's beginning of life (start of construction), beginning of operation, end of life, and its expected lifetime.

es_cycle_counting.csv

This file contains information on how energy storage systems are cycled. This is the results of a rainflow counting algorithm, which counts the number of half-cycles at what depth of discharge the storage system executes in every optimization window. Each row represents a new cycle (count=1) or half-cycle (count=.5).

• "rng" - effective energy capacity (after degradation) of the energy storage system in this optimization window.
• "mean" - Average SOE of the storage system in the half-cycle.
• "count" - is the cycle represnted in this row a full (both charge and discharge) cycle or a half cycle (only charge or only discharge)?
• "i_start" - the time step in the optimization window when the (half) cycle starts
• "i_end" - the time step in the optimization window when the (half) cycle ends
• "Opt window" - The optimization window number. (1 is the first opt window)
• "Input_cycle_DoD_mapping" - Depth of discharge of the (half) cycle in kWh
• "Cycle Life Value" - This comes from the input cycle life file. It is the number of cycles at the depth of discharge of the cycle until replacement (if starting SOH = 100%)

es_degradation_data.csv

This file is processes the cycle counting data (above) into degradation outcomes.

• "Optimization Start" - The optimization window number
• "degradation" - The change in SOH of the storage system over the optimization window.
• "soh" - The remaining state of health at the end of the optimization window
• "effective energy capacity" - The remaining useful energy capacity at the end of the optimization window.

es_dispatch_map.csv

This is a rectangular data file used to make heatmaps of energy storage system charge and discharge profiles.

es_yearly_degradation.csv

This shows the change in SOH of a storage system in each year of the analysis.

npv.csv

Similar to the cost_benefit.csv file, this expresses the present value of each cost/benefit category across the analysis window, but does not break out cost and benefits separately. Instead, costs are negative numbers and benefits are positive numbers.

objective_values.csv

This provides a detailed look under the hood of the optimization. This expresses every term of the objective function and the values they take in every optimization window.

payback.csv

This file expresses some financial metrics of the project - Payback Period, Discounted Payback Period, Lifetime Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, and Benefit-Cost Ratio.

peak_day_load.csv

Where applicable, this file finds the day with the peak site_load and simply expresses the site load vs time for that day. This is just used to quickly identify when the peak load occurs, what the peak load is, and make a plot accordingly.

pro_forma.csv

This is a full nominal cash flows pro forma document that expresses the nominal cost (-) or benefit (+) of each cost/benefit category in every year of the analysis window. This document shows how cash flows are escalated/interpolated, when DER are constructed, become operational, and fail, and all other detailed benefit-cost analysis mechanisms.

simple_monthly_bill.csv

Similar to the advanced monthly bill file, this expresses the energy and demand charges associated with a retail tariff. Unlike the advanced file, this aggregates each months charges into demand charges, energy charges, original (read: without DER) demand charges, and original energy charges.

size.csv

This returns the size of each DER, whether it was input by the user or determined optimally in DER-VET.

technology_summary.csv

This file simply contains a list of all DERs present and their unique name.

timeseries_results.csv

This is the heaviest output of DER-VET. It show detailed information on all timeseries inputs and how DERs are operated in every time step of every optimization year.