HOPP: Hybrid Optimization and Performance Platform

As part of NREL's Hybrid Energy Systems Research, this software assesses optimal designs for the deployment of utility-scale hybrid energy plants, particularly considering wind, solar and storage.

Software requirements

• Python version 3.9, 3.10, and 3.11 only (PySAM 4.2 is incompatible with 3.12)

Installing from Package Repositories

1. HOPP is available as a PyPi package:

   pip install HOPP
   

Installing from Source

1. Using Git, navigate to a local target directory and clone repository:

   git clone https://github.com/NREL/HOPP.git
   

2. Navigate to HOPP

   cd HOPP
   

3. Create a new virtual environment and change to it. Using Conda and naming it 'hopp':

   conda create --name hopp python=3.8 -y
   conda activate hopp
   

4. Install HOPP and its dependencies:

   conda install -y -c conda-forge coin-or-cbc=2.10.8 glpk
   

   Note if you are on Windows, you will have to manually install Cbc: https://github.com/coin-or/Cbc.

   • If you want to just use HOPP:

     pip install .  
     

   • If you want to work with the examples:

     pip install ".[examples]"
     

   • If you also want development dependencies for running tests and building docs:

     pip install -e ".[develop]"
     

5. The functions which download resource data require an NREL API key. Obtain a key from:

   https://developer.nrel.gov/signup/

6. To set up the NREL_API_KEY and NREL_API_EMAIL required for resource downloads, you can create Environment Variables called NREL_API_KEY and NREL_API_EMAIL. Otherwise, you can keep the key in a new file called ".env" in the root directory of this project.

   Create a file ".env" that contains the single line:

   NREL_API_KEY=key
   NREL_API_EMAIL=your.name@email.com
   

7. Verify setup by running tests:

   pytest tests/hopp
   

8. To set up NREL_API_KEY for resource downloads, first refer to section 6 and 7 above. But for the .env file method, the file should go in the working directory of your Python project, e.g. directory from where you run python.

Getting Started

The Examples contain Jupyter notebooks and sample YAML files for common usage scenarios in HOPP. These are actively maintained and updated to demonstrate HOPP's capabilities. For full details on simulation options and other features, see the documentation.

Contributing

Interested in improving HOPP? Please see the Contributing section for more information.