Pv Design Pro Software
The Evolution of PV Design The design process for photovoltaic systems has, for the most part, transitioned from a simple electrical equation to a complicated three-dimensional architectural, solar and financial analysis. The anachronistic equation of amps out to amps in, needed to figure out how a twelve volt module could refill a twelve volt battery, has proved inadequate for today's PV systems, which are connected to the public electrical grid and draw on a wide variety of inputs. Not coincidently, the connection of our PV systems to the energy 'cloud' has fostered a boom in modeling software in the internet cloud.
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The following is a basic survey of some of the notable players in the PV Design arena today. PV Syst is one of the most complex PV performance and financial model design tools in the industry. It's one of the first commercially available PV design packages - initially written for small off-grid systems in Europe, then evolving into more complex software that is capable of precise output design of utility scale projects.
PV Syst is arguably the industry standard globally and is both loved and hated by the professional PV designers who use it every day. PV Syst has seen a gradual erosion of its position by free and web based offerings (below) and, in response, has made an effort to enhance its offering, which is currently in version 5. Developed by NREL, it’s the most advanced and commonly used performance and financial tool in the USA. The software is not only designed for (residential, commercial and utlity scale) PV, but also other renewable technologies such as dish-stirling CSP, solar-water heating, small and large wind and biomass projects. The SAM UI looks and feels like a government project. The designers at NREL have taken the stodginess of PVSyst and PVSol and updated their 1980's Volvo functionality to the 1990's Cadillac level excess.
The awkwardness of the design is a good thing - it proves that SAM was made by PhD level engineers! Despite feeling clunky to use, SAM is a fantastic tool - providing almost endless tweaks and customizations to get your overall model right where you want it - plus, it's free.
SAM can provide performance predictions and cost of energy estimates for grid-connected power projects based on installation and operating costs and system design parameters that you specify as inputs to the model. The current version of the SAM includes performance models for the following technologies: (i) Photovoltaic systems (flat-plate and concentrating); (ii) Parabolic trough concentrating solar power systems; (iii) Power tower concentrating solar power systems (molten salt and direct steam); (iv) Linear Fresnel concentrating solar power systems; and (v) Dish-Stirling concentrating solar power systems. SAM includes several databases of performance data and coefficients for system components such as photovoltaic modules and inverters. For those components, you simply choose an option from a list.
SAM can also automatically download data from an online database of retail electricity rates and structures for U.S. For the remaining input variables, you either use the default value or custom. Some examples of input variables are: (i) Installation costs including equipment purchases, labor, engineering and other project costs, and land costs, and operation and maintenance costs; (ii) Numbers of modules and inverters, tracking type, derating factors for photovoltaic systems; (iii) Collector and receiver type, solar multiple, storage capacity, power block capacity for parabolic trough systems.
(iv) Analysis period, real discount rate, inflation rate, tax rates, internal rate of return target or power purchase price for utility financing models; (v) Building load and time-of-use retail rates for commercial and residential financing models; (vi) Tax credit and payment incentives amounts and rates. SAM's financial model calculates financial metrics for various kinds of power projects based on a project's cash flows over an analysis period that you specify. The financial model uses the system's electrical output calculated by the performance model to calculate the series of annual cash flows. SAM includes financial models for the following kinds of projects: (i) Residential and Commercial Projects; (ii) Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Projects; (iii) Levelized Cost of Energy and Cash Flow (levelized cost of energy (LCOE) after-tax cash flows for projects using retail electricity rates, and from the revenue cash flow for projects selling electricity under a power purchase agreement); and, (iv) Incentives (the financial model can account for a wide range of incentive payments and tax credits).
Solmetric software was written to support the Solmetric SunEye site survey tools. Like the SunEye firmware, it appears to be written in some form of Visual Basic and/or Windows Mobile; it's not pretty. If visual quirks can be tolerated, the PV Designer is a noteworthy and useful tool. The Solmetric SunEye was the first site survey device to take the steampunk style and drag it into the 20th century by essentially adding batteries and the ability to capture and edit shading images. PV Designer goes one step further by coding the whole process and facilitating the editing and reporting of shading results.
Many designers forgo the PV Designer product and import the SunEye data directly to SAM, PVSyst or others. Simple to use; just select a surface where the solar panels will be inserted and click on the solar cell icon. A menu appears that asks you about tilt and orientation for the panels, the type of panel, and a shading range for a given day. Photovoltaic panels can be selected from its own database or you can create your own, and they can be placed in portrait or landscape orientation. After that, the plugin automatically inserts the solar panels on your selected surface. It also works with irregular surfaces.
The tools surveyed have some notable differences, but they can all be used effectively in modeling PV output and presenting the results. It will be interesting to see if the older software suites are encouraged to look beyond a static Windows Only market. Apple Computer, for instance, has about a 10% share of the workstation OS market, but it could be argued that they are a growing concern and should be considered as a viable project design platform. Regardless of operating system, the Cloud is likely to emerge as the most logical place for installing design software that is dependent on a dynamic range of products and specification.
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Hello There's also EasySolar app which is the first PV design app available on browser, Android, iPhone and soon- WindowsPhone. Is's far more than a solar calculator and more efficient and user friendly than desktop software. General features are: cloud based, cross platform, PV design on Google Maps, image or sketch, full financial analysis (many currencies and support mechanism types), unlimited number of projects and proposals in PDF, shading simulation tool, azimuth easurement, rooftop inclination measurement, subscription plan is 20 euros a month and it is translated into 4 languages.
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