PV energy system - the preparation

In this document

We will show you how to quickly start with an energy system designer and discuss important factors to consider when creating your PV energy system.

Before you start designing

The PV energy system designer incorporates many tools essential to designing an effective PV energy system. When done correctly, the design can closely resemble reality and provide great insights into the system's feasibility.

Generally, the designer’s design process can be divided into two phases, where different assessments and steps should be performed. These are summarized in the following table.

Planning and energy system designing phase	System optimization phase
Required PV energy system output Site size and location PV energy system design	Spacing optimization Electric optimization Revision of losses and re-optimizing

Remember: you can prepare and save several system designs and compare their simulation results to find the optimal solution for your case.

The planning and system designing phase

Required energy system output and site examination

These two steps are interconnected and affect each other. You should know what your required PV energy system output is and whether the site can incorporate an installation of such size. You can use our Prospect application to perform the initial site feasibility check and build the PV energy system in the Evaluate after.

Consider the following before commencing the design process:

The area the PV energy system with required power will cover.
The installation site character - restricted areas, trees, shading objects, terrain slope, and other factors.
System’s grid connection - the proximity and character of the nearest grid connection point and its available capacity.

PV energy system design

The current limit on the maximum energy system size in the Energy system designer is 300MWp.

Once you have established the site’s suitability and required power output, you can start designing your energy system. First, you must set the simulation data input to determine the required simulation granularity. This would be done in the system’s general settings. The energy system designing process then generally involves the following:

Placing your arrays, either at the reference point or inside a previously created segments.
If required, adding additional inverter transformers or power transformer (the system’s algorithms will do this for you automatically by default).
Creating maintenance paths, restricted areas, or adding shading objects.

The arrays can be edited and resized at any time. You can have multiple segments covered with arrays and connected based on requirements.

System optimization phase

Space and electrical optimization

After you have placed and configured your arrays, you can proceed to the optimization phase, generally containing the following:

Configuring your arrays and inverters by replacing the generic components, adjusting the spacing, string sizes, table geometry, inverter positioning, and other parameters.
Reviewing and adjusting the default cabling, auxiliary, and degradation losses and set unavailability due to external factors.
Validating the system and re-optimizing based on results and requirements.

The optimization process may involve several iterations of adjusting different system parameters, changing components, and re-validations. We advise running system validation periodically to ensure that changes you implemented did not affect the system's validity. The validation is also done automatically every time you save your system using the “Save” button.