Release Notes for SAM 2026

[cpaulgilman]

• Move release notes from standalone document to part of new Help system's Reference section.
• Convert release notes source from HTML to RST.
• Add items for 2026 release, a few pending pull requests remain to be added.

To edit release notes in SAM/doc/source:

https://github.com/NatLabRockies/SAM/blob/move-release-notes-to-help-as-rst/doc/source/reference/release_notes.rst

Once deployed, to view release notes, use this URL (this link is to SAM 2025.4.16 r2 release notes):

https://natlabrockies.github.io/SAM/doc/reference/release_notes.html

[brtietz]

@cpaulgilman As usual, a number of PRs weren't tagged with the milestone. I've listed them below (and tagged them with the milestone in this process). Do you prefer to add these or reach out to the authors for release note summaries?

NatLabRockies/ssc#1396 & #2189
NatLabRockies/ssc#1393
NatLabRockies/ssc#1360
#2146
#2121
#2114
#2103
#2100

[brtietz]

In my latest commit, I added some discussion of changing the default degradation mode to linear for Wind and PVWatts (see NatLabRockies/ssc#1386 (comment) and #2113 (comment), respectively) Please wordsmith or elevate as needed.

[cpaulgilman]

@cpaulgilman As usual, a number of PRs weren't tagged with the milestone. I've listed them below (and tagged them with the milestone in this process). Do you prefer to add these or reach out to the authors for release note summaries?

NatLabRockies/ssc#1396 & #2189 NatLabRockies/ssc#1393 NatLabRockies/ssc#1360 #2146 #2121 #2114 #2103 #2100

I'll add those, thanks for finding them!