Trouble getting variable handle in PythonPlugin

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I'm having trouble getting some variable handles using PythonPlugin in energyplus. I wonder if all the variables listed in the *.rdd output file are available for the python plugin ...

For example here is what I got in the *.rdd file:

Output:Variable,prm,Plant Supply Side Cooling Demand Rate,hourly; !- HVAC Average []

and here is what I used in my python script to get the handle:

self.sensors["demand rate"] = self.e.get_variable_handle(
              state, "Plant Supply Side Cooling Demand Rate", "prm")

Unfortunately, the API returns -1 value for this variable and some other variables. I can't figure out what's the problem. It seems that all the variables listed in the *.rdd file cannot be handled by PythonPlugin. If I'm right, how can one identify available variables(sensors) for each model? I hope that you can help me with this.

P.S.

self.e = self.api.exchange