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This wiki is for describing the QuESt codebase and project. These pages will describe:
- Overall QuESt software architecture
- Each QuESt application's description and implementation details
- Notes related to GUI design / Kivy implementation
These pages won't describe:
- API documentation
- Specific mathematical formulations or theory
You can start navigating the wiki from the page directory below or from the sidebar.
QuESt Software Architecture: How the QuESt codebase is designed and structured.
QuESt Application Structure: Overview of how the QuESt (Kivy) application is structured.
Data Manager: A system for conveying metadata to the view/GUI.
Data Management System: A system responsible for managing access to data and translating data from files on disk as necessary.
Optimizer Handler: A system responsible for communicating between Optimizer objects and the GUI.
Common: A module controlling look and feel of the QuESt GUI.
Proving Grounds: A collection of experimental widgets developed to support QuESt application needs.
Wizard: A common, user-friendly interface for using QuESt modeling capabilities.
Packaging: Information on packaging QuESt as an executable.
QuESt began life as an initiative to create a GUI-based tool written in Python for performing energy storage valuation in electricity markets based on models that had been developed by Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) over the years.
Initial development began in August 2017. The core QuESt team conducted a review of available libraries or frameworks for building GUIs in Python. The team settled on using Kivy because of it being relatively modern and the ability to create applications with a non-native appearance. Following a rapid period of development, a minimum viable product (prototype) was presented at the Department of Energy Office of Electricity Energy Storage Peer Review in the fall of 2017. The prototype with the relatively anonymous moniker "Sandia Energy Storage Valuation Software Tool" garnered interest from many of those in attendance. The development team was encouraged and continued to work on the software to prepare it for a public release.
The team focused on the development of the first QuESt application, QuESt Valuation; this application was designed for energy storage valuation in ISO/RTO electricity markets with value stacking. In order to accommodate data requirements for QuESt Valuation, the QuESt Data Manager application was also developed.
In the first half of 2018, the team decided to work on creating a product name for the software tool in order to start building a brand internally and in preparation for the public debut. After consultation with Sandia's Creative Services, the name "QuESt" (tagline: "Optimizing Energy Storage") was decided; the logo and other aspects of the brand shortly followed.
In September 2018, version 1.0 of QuESt was uploaded to a public GitHub repository, marking the public debut of QuESt.
- August 2017: Development began as the Sandia energy storage valuation software tool.
- September 2017: Minimum viable product presented at DOE OE Energy Storage Peer Review.
- May 2018: Software tool became known as "QuESt". Logo and brand elements were designed.
- September 2018: QuESt v1.0 publicly released on GitHub with QuESt Valuation and QuESt Data Manager.
- November 2018: QuESt v1.1 released to expand support for remaining market areas in QuESt Valuation.
- March 2019: QuESt v1.2 released, featuring the debut of QuESt BTM.
Special thanks to Dr. Imre Gyuk, the program manager for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity Energy Storage program, for guidance and supporting the energy storage program at Sandia including the development of QuESt.
Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.