Add group tag

[paulf81]

This PR does two things that shouldn't change Hercules behavior

1. Adds a new YAML key: component_group to the list of component_name, component_type and component_category. Hercules itself won't use this group but it can be helpful to herc_analysis to flag that say several solar components are actually blocks of one solar farm. If no group is specified then component_group = component_name. Docs are updated and tests of new behavior included.

2. Since this change is done to benefit herc_analysis, a new doc page describing herc_analysis is included to mention and link to it. This can then explain the purpose of the new component_group key.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR introduces an optional component_group metadata tag for plant components (defaulting to component_name) so downstream tooling (notably herc_analysis) can aggregate related components without affecting Hercules simulation behavior.

Changes:

• Add component_group handling to ComponentBase (default + type validation + write-back into h_dict).
• Add unit tests covering defaulting, explicit values, and type errors for component_group.
• Update docs + example YAML and add a new docs page describing herc_analysis and how component_group is intended to be used.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 10 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
hercules/plant_components/component_base.py	Implements component_group defaulting/validation and persists it into h_dict.
tests/component_base_test.py	Adds tests validating component_group default behavior, explicit override, and type enforcement.
examples/hercules_input_example.yaml	Documents how to specify component_group in an example component block.
docs/hybrid_plant.md	Updates the conceptual link text to include component_group.
docs/hercules_input.md	Documents component_group as an optional per-component YAML key with default behavior.
docs/herc_analysis.md	Adds a new companion-tool doc page and explains component_group purpose.
docs/h_dict.md	Notes that component_group may be present and is defaulted during component construction.
docs/component_types.md	Extends the naming/type/category doc to include component_group and summarizes it in the table.
docs/adding_components.md	Updates the super().__init__() behavior list to include component_group.
docs/_toc.yml	Adds a “Post-Processing” section and links the new herc_analysis doc page.

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[misi9170]

#224 introduced "grouped" generating units by actually making them subsets of a component. This seems to be rather similar functionality. Could the multiunit plants introduced in #224 instead be flattened and just share a component_group tag, or would that change what is possible with a multiunit plant? Alternatively, should we simply create a generic multiunit component type to replace your component_group, and assign all grouped components to the same higher-level multiunit component (something we talked about when implementing #224)? This would mean that, say, we could have a single top-level solar component with multiple different lower level solar units, in a hierarchy.

[paulf81]

#224 introduced "grouped" generating units by actually making them subsets of a component. This seems to be rather similar functionality. Could the multiunit plants introduced in #224 instead be flattened and just share a component_group tag, or would that change what is possible with a multiunit plant? Alternatively, should we simply create a generic multiunit component type to replace your component_group, and assign all grouped components to the same higher-level multiunit component (something we talked about when implementing #224)? This would mean that, say, we could have a single top-level solar component with multiple different lower level solar units, in a hierarchy.

This is a good point. Noting you and I discussed this some IRL and going to put here I'm going to put this PR on hold, maybe permanently, in favor of a longer term plan something more like you propose here.