• 885 views | 4 messages Discussion: LEAP
    Topic: Is LEAP still accounting for hourly load information imported, even though it does not show it, but time slices? Subscribe | Previous | Next
  • Nikola Pilipovic 10/10/2016

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    Dear LEAP Support Team,

    First I want to express many thanks for your help so far. It has gone a long way towards successfully building a baseline scenario for my project.

    My question this time is pretty much contained in the subject of this post. I managed to successfully import hourly load information (although the process was challenging, as I realized that "Import Hourly Shape" function under "Yearly Shapes" tab does not work if you specify both weekend and weekdays under the time slice options, and also the function did not work if I tried to import data in any form other then "energy load shape"). Now once the importing and mapping of data to individual time slices is finished, LEAP does not show any more hourly information in its charts or tables (unless I am not aware of that option), but only more aggregate time slice information. My concern is whether LEAP still accounts for this hourly load data in its calculations, or calculates only more aggregate time slice impacts? I am asking this because in my project I will soon evaluate impacts of demand response and virtual power plant policies, where I am going to need to modify the load curves of individual devices, on hourly basis, to represent the expected policy impacts.

    Thank you so much!

    Best,

    Nikola Pilipovic

  • Emily Ghosh 10/11/2016
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    Hi Nikola,

    When using "Import Hourly Shape", LEAP automatically allocates the hourly loads to the appropriate time slice and normalizes the data. The hourly data itself is not imported into LEAP and is not included in the calculations since it is accounted for within the aggregated time slices.

    You may want to increase the number of time slices to view results at a level of detail that meets your needs. However, note that too many time slices (such as a time slice representing each hour) will significantly slow down LEAP.

    With regards to the functionality of "Import Hourly Shape", thank you for making us aware of the challenge with importing data into weekday/weekend time slices. However, you should be able to import data in forms other than "Energy Load Shape". It would be of great help if you could provide more details on the issue you experienced so that we can fix the problem. Specifically, do you mind letting us know the LEAP version you are using, how the time slices are set up in your model, which shape you were trying to import and the resulting issue that occurred?

    Thanks!

    Emily


  • Nikola Pilipovic 10/17/2016
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    Emily,



    Thank you so much for your help.


    1.Do you mind directing to the material that explains how to increase the number of time slices to 8760, to represent each hour in one year? I have perused LEAP's help file along with your training exercises (which are by the way fantastic) and could not find the explanation. I am not worried much about the calculation time. My model comprises only electricity consumption system (which is relatively simple), single region, and evaluates a single policy against a baseline, with manageable cost data. I hope I won't have to wait for days before the first run is complete in that caseJ



    2. Regarding the issue with "import hourly shape" function, I am using the latest version of LEAP you released and my time slice arrangement and number is depicted in the attachment in this post. Unfortunately, I have discovered that I am unable to use that function almost ever! I created the simplest excel file with only two columns: hours in one year and energy consumption in each hour in kWh. Then I open only that file and LEAP on my computer. When I access "import hourly shape" it asks for the type of load shape and range in excel, but it does not recognize any range or whatsoever! I tried specifying different types of load shape under "import values as" function and made appropriate adjustments to my hourly data (% of annual peak or % of annual load) but still no results. The last solution I resorted to is opening your "sample load shape" file provided along with LEAP Training Exercises pdf and used in Exercise 6 (Optimization exercise), and then substituted hourly data in that file with my own data, in which case LEAP recognized the range defined in that file (called "kWh"). Please let me know if I was doing something wrong.

    Thank you again for your time and help with this marvelous tool!

    Best,

    Nikola Pilipovic


    LEAP Issues.PNG
  • Emily Ghosh 10/18/2016
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    Hi Nikola,

    Thank you for your kind words regarding LEAP! To answer your questions:

    1. To easily generate time slices, use the time slice wizard by going into General > Time Slices > Setup Time Slices > Detailed (in the same manner as Exercise 6 and as shown in your attachment). Then, specify the "Main Slices" according to your preferred level of detail (i.e. 8760 hours = 8760 time slices). You can also define daily or weekly slices, however these options are only available for Main Slices that are at a high resolution, like seasonal or monthly slices. Further information on setting up time slices can be found here:

    https://www.energycommunity.org/Help/Supporting_Screens/Time_Slices.htm?rhhlterm=time%20slice&rhsyns=%20


    2. In order to use the "Import Hourly Shape" function, first you will need to name the range of cells in Excel containing your kWh data so that it can be recognized by LEAP. To define a name, refer to the following Excel help page:

    https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Define-and-use-names-in-formulas-4d0f13ac-53b7-422e-afd2-abd7ff379c64#bmquickly_name_a_cell_or_range_of_cells


    For more guidance, please refer to the following forum thread which addresses related issues:

    https://energycommunity.org/default.asp?action=9&fid=22&TID=2998




    Thanks!
    Emily