Encouraging more people to help develop pvlib-python is essential to our success. Therefore, we want to make it easy and rewarding for you to contribute.
There is a lot of material in this section, aimed at a variety of contributors from novice to expert. Don't worry if you don't (yet) understand parts of it.
Some core guidelines on the package, requirements for contributors, and the management of contributions are as follows:
- pvlib-python is an advanced scientific modeling toolbox.
- Every pull request (PR) should address one or more open issues. The PR should be outlined in the issue discussion.
- GSoC: For Google Summer of Code, we invite applications only from those with significant PV modeling experience and who are motivated to join the pvlib maintenance teams
- A background in solar energy and/or experience in pvlib-python is required to address some issues effectively due to subtleties that are hard to appreciate until struggling with an implementation. It is not always clear which issues fall into this bucket. Don't be offended if maintainers close your PR for this reason.
- Maintainers reserve the right to close PRs that do not comply with the contributing guidelines.
While we welcome new contributors, reviewer capacity is limited. Therefore, following the guidelines above throughout the contributing process is critical.
Here are a few ideas for how you can contribute, even if you are new to pvlib-python, git, or Python:
- Ask and answer pvlib questions on StackOverflow and participate in discussions in the pvlib-python google group.
- Make GitHub issues and contribute to the conversations about how to resolve them.
- Read issues and pull requests that other people created and contribute to the conversation about how to resolve them. Look for issues tagged with good first issue, easy, or help wanted.
- Improve the documentation and the unit tests.
- Improve the Example Gallery or add new examples that demonstrate how to use pvlib-python in your area of expertise.
- Tell your friends and colleagues about pvlib-python.
- Add your project to our Projects and publications that use pvlib-python wiki.
If this documentation is unclear, help us improve it! Consider looking at the pandas documentation for inspiration.
All contributors are expected to adhere to the Contributor Code of Conduct.