Building SIREN from github and SourceForge

This is a brief set of clues on how to get SIREN working using the source from github and packages from SourceForge. More may be forthcoming. The SIREN help file (help.html) is worth a read (You can also view the SIREN help file at https://rawgit.com/ozsolarwind/siren/master/help.html). In terms of setup refer to :-

• help.html. Installation, Setting Up, Preferences, and SIREN File Formats. To use SIREN refer to Using the Simulation.
• rawgit. Installation, Setting Up, Preferences, and SIREN File Formats. To use SIREN refer to Using the Simulation.

Windows package

SIREN is packaged for Windows to enable that user base to install and use it with minimal technical knowledge. This version has been created with PyInstaller (see below). It has also been executed successfully on Mac using WineBottler. To run it in other environments, or to run your own Windows version you need:

• Python 3.12 or later
• Some Python packages (see Python Libraries)
• The Python source programs for SIREN. These are available either from github or SourceForge. Their purpose is briefly described in SIREN Programs
• The SAM SDK. This is included in a number of the SourceForge files. It is also available from the SAM website - https://sam.nrel.gov/sdk. SIREN currently uses Version 2019-02-09 (206). A useful version is SAM 2018.11.11 Revision 4 with ssc Revision 209 as this is the last version to come with prepackaged binaries (the zip file). You can also obtain more recent versions by downloading SAM itself and setting a link to the SAM folder in the sam_sdk property of the [Files] Section of the Preferences file. SIREN expects the SDK, ssc.dll to be in the x64 (or win64) sub-folder
  Other versions may be included with the Windows package and may be identified by a sub-folder name in the siren folder, e.g. sam-sdk-2023-12-17
• Other data files as indicated in Setting Up. These are found in some of the SIREN SourceForge downloads with a small number also available on github
• If required, the sample SIREN simulation of the SWIS - siren_sample.exe

Packaging for Windows

I use PyInstaller (https://pypi.org/project/pyinstaller/ currently Version 6.10.0) and Advanced Installer (https://www.advancedinstaller.com/ currently Version 21.5) to package SIREN for Windows in Microsoft Installer (MSI) format (previously zip files were created). I use the multi-package facility to create executables for powermap.py, siren.py, sirensetup.py and the tools (flexiplot.py, getera5.py, getmap.py, getmerra2.py, indexweather.py, makegrid.py, makeweatherfiles.py, pmtmldetail.py, powermatch.py, powerplot.py, sirenupd.py and updateswis.py). siren_application.spec is the spec file (pyinstaller.exe siren_application.spec with options --log-level ERROR and/or --noconfirm ... pyinstaller.exe --noconfirm --log-level ERROR siren_application.spec). This enables all programs to be included in a single library for distribution. PyInstaller places them in individual directories - I use package_siren.py to copy all the executables into the siren directory and remove some unwanted files that are included as part of the packaging process.

All these files have a version file where the version is <major>,<minor>.<yyyy>.<mmdd>. <major> and <minor> refer to the SIREN release. The date part is the date the program was last changed. The version numbering simulates Microsoft version numbers. template_version provides a template for the version files to enable new SIREN releases to be packaged. The current major version is 5 (1 was the initial version, 2 for the change from Python2 to Python3, and for the change from PyQt4 to PyQt5, and 4 for a change to a new packaging environment, Windows 10 rather than Windows 7, and a change to 64-bit Python, and 5 for a change to the API, cdsapi, for ERA5 satellite data).

To enable the modules to be built correctly most require hiddenimports, as identified in siren_application.spec, as often PyInstaller will fail to identify all imports from libraries used by the SIREN program.

Makeweatherfiles

Weather files suitable for SAM can be obtained from either ERA5 or MERRA-2 satellite data. I again use the multi-package facility to create executables for getera5.py, getmerra2.py and makeweatherfiles.py to provide a standalone tool to create SAM weather files from ERA5 or MERRA-2 datasets. package_makeweatherfiles.py packages these three programs.

A Python version

A Python version of SIREN is a viable alternative for Linux and MacOS (and for Windows users who have Python installed). The following instructions may assist:

• Download SIREN from github (https://github.com/ozsolarwind/siren) by choosing Code->Download ZIP option
• Unzip the file (siren_master.zip) to your chosed location for SIREN; and optionally rename the directory to your desired virtual environment
• If you want to create a virtual environment for SIREN:
  • Run the command python3 -m venv <siren-master>/ where <siren-master> is the directory you created for SIREN. If you use python3 -m venv --system-site-packages <siren-master>/ it will use your site libraries and save space
  • Change to the <siren-master> directory (e.g. cd <siren-master>/)
  • Run the command source bin/activate to activate the virtual environment
• Run the command pip install -r siren_requirements.txt to install the packages used by SIREN that are not part of the standard installation
• Download the SAM SDK. A useful version is SAM 2018.11.11 Revision 4 with ssc Revision 209 as this is the last version to come with prepackaged binaries (the zip file) and unzip it to an appropriate location . You can also obtain more recent versions by downloading SAM itself and setting a link to the SAM folder in the sam_sdk property of the [Files] Section of the Preferences file. For Linux SIREN looks for /linux64/ssc.so and for macOX /osx64/ssc.dylib
• Run the command python3 siren.py (or perhaps python siren.py) to invoke SIREN. The first time you run it will present a file menu to locate the models directory. This creates a file siren_models_location.txt with the location of the models folder
• If you've created a virtual environment for SIREN:
  • Run the command deactivate to deactivate the virtual environment

New versions of SIREN programs can be obtained using sirenupd. For programs packaged for Windows this will contain any changes to Python programs included by the program. For Python the same approach can be used by creating a zip file that contains both the target Python program, e.g. powermatch.py, plus other included Python programs that have been updated.

github

https://github.com/ozsolarwind/siren contains the Python source and associated image files for SIREN plus a few additional items:

• Individual turbine (.pow) files for turbines not included in SAM's wind turbine file. The location for these is defined by the pow_files property of the [Files] Section of the Preferences file
• Spreadsheets with default parameters for the SAM models. The location for these is defined by the variable_files property of the [Files] Section of the Preferences file and the files themselves are defined by the [SAM Modules] Section
• SAM wind turbine files - Wind Turbines.csv and Wind Turbine Subset.csv. The location for these is defined by the sam_turbines property of the [Files] Section of the Preferences file
• siren_application.spec is the specification file used to package the SIREN application using PyInstaller
• You can also view the SIREN help file at https://rawgit.com/ozsolarwind/siren/master/help.html

You should download all files (except the package and spec files) to your target “home” folder for SIREN.

SourceForge

https://sourceforge.net/projects/sensiren/ contains a number of Windows MSI and/or self-extracting zip files for the full SIREN Toolkit and a number of the components. See Installation.

• siren_application.msi and siren_toolkit.msi contain the SIREN Python source (siren/source folder) and SAM SDK (siren/sam-sdk folder)
• siren_toolkit.msi and siren_sample.exe contain the sample SIREN simulation of the SWIS (siren_sample folder)
• makeweatherfiles.msi provides the files required to create SAM weather files without requiring any other parts of SIREN

Python Libraries

These libraries may need to be installed using either pip or your software installer.

SIREN Programs

This is a list of the Python source programs for SIREN. Where there is a dependency on the os environment the programs test sys.platform. These programs are highlighted in the list with an asterisk (*).

Useful tools

sam_models_list

The parameters and variables utilised by the SAM API often change between versions. sam_models_list.py can be run to list the SAM models and variables for different SAM versions. Usage:

• python sam_models_list.py ⇒ Produce HTML file of models for current SSC version
• python sam_models_list.py <Preference file> ⇒ Produce HTML file of models for chosen SSC version
• python sam_models_list.py <Preference file> <SAM model> ⇒ Produce spreadsheet of variables for model of chosen SSC version
• python sam_models_list.py <Preference file> <SAM model> <Ver 1> <Ver 2>Produce spreadsheet comparing model variables between two SSC versions

Where:

• <Preference file> is a SIREN Prefences (.ini) file containing the directory for the SAM SDK
• <SAM model> is a SAM Model
• <Ver n> is an SDK Version

opt_debug

opt_debug.py can be used to debug the powermatch optimisation routine. It doesn't need to be packaged with SIREN.

Angus King
May 2025