[Feature] Allow DeployInst to declare a different start year than the simulation #664
Description
What is the motivation for your feature request? Please describe what you want to use it for.
Some simulations rely on a DeployInst to define complex deployment histories of individual facilities over time. It can be convenient to have those defined in an XML code snippet and then include them in other simulations. However, the timing of deployment in a DeployInst assumes some given first year of the simulation.
Describe the feature you'd like.
This could be remedied by allowing DeployInst to define a different start date for its own timing (default is the same as the simulation start date for backwards compatibility). All the deployment/decommissioning times would be shifted by the different between the simulation start time and the DeployInst start time, with all facilities guaranteed to be started at the first time step if the shift causes a negative deployment time.
Describe alternatives you've considered.
Force users to make sure they have deployment/decommissioning times that are consistent with the simulation start time in their XML snippets.
How can this issue be closed?
Add an optional field to DeployInst and the logic to set the deployment/decommissioning times correctly.