developer_mh

Hi SPS, there is a feature called maximum power clipping, in the "AC mains" dialog on the page "System type, climate and grid". The value is given in percent. You want to limit the power to 24 kW AC and you have 39,68 kWp installed on the DC side, so your value will be 60 %. Hope that helps, kind regards, Martin

Hi Reint, thanks for the data. I imported the data as is into PV*SOL, simulated and then had a look in the diagram editor at the series "irradiance onto horizontal plane" and "height of sun". These must be synchronous. So I searched for a clear sky day, like 24.06.: As you can see, the two series are out of sync. This means the timestamp of the PVGIS has to be changed prior to the import in PV*SOL. Here, the solar irradiance seems to be araound one hour earlier than the height of sun, so we have to shift all PVGIS values one hour behind. In order to achieve that, I cut the last line of the PVGIS data and pasted it before the first line. Maastricht p1 50.5024,-5.3849,81,-1,-30 Ta Gh FF RH 0.32 0.0 3.03 96.82 //this was the last line before 0.14 0.0 3.1 96.37 -0.04 0.0 3.17 95.91 -0.22 0.0 3.25 95.45 -0.4 0.0 3.32 94.99 -0.58 0.0 3.39 94.53 -0.76 0.0 3.46 94.07 -0.93 0.0 3.53 93.61 -1.11 0.0 3.6 93.15 0.12 20.0 4.68 91.4 1.06 120.0 4.88 88.26 ... Imported and simulated, it looks like this: So, now the irradiance seems to be slightly too late. Let us revert these changes and try with a 30 min shift. If you want to shift the data by 30min, you'll have to use excel to calculate the new values: Imported and simulated the new data give this picture: That is closer, but still there is a clear offset. So let's try to shift the values by 45min. Here we go: There is still as small offset, I would say, but it is ok now. Unfortunately I couldn't find any information on the timestamp on the PVGIS website. In PV*SOL we use the same time stamp as in Meteonorm (where we get most of our climate data from). That is, January 01, 14:00 refers to the time range between 13:01 and 14:00. I attached the new climate data file, so you can import it yourself and see how the results look. Hope that helps, kind regards, Martin Maastricht 2007-2016 45min.dat

Hi Bengt, we are excited to hear that you are working on a report comparing different software solutions for PV! We hope that you can share your findings afterwards The relative humidity is currently not used in our models for the module temperature. If you have any further questions on the modelling or other parts of the software, please don't hesitate to ask! Kind regards, Martin

Hi Reint, that is very interesting! Could you provide the PVGIS data for Maastricht, please? A first guess would be that the timestamp might be wrong, so that the calculated elevation of the sun doesn't fit to the solar irradiance data. Kind regards, Martin

Hi Paul, in PV*SOL we have PV inverters (that cover roughly the functionality of MPP tracking and DC/AC conversion), ongrid battery systems (that cover the functionality of charging and discharging batteries and can be coupled to the system by AC coupling, DC intermediate coupling or DC generator coupling), and offgrid battery systems. So, in the case of Victron, we would have to choose if we want to analyse the ongrid or the offgrid case (both is not possible at the moment). In the ongrid case, we would enter the MPPT 250/100 as PV inverter and the Victron Quattro 15 kVA as battery system, although I am not sure how the connection of these devices is handled. Where do you connect the MPPT to the Quattro? Can you draw a circuit with both devices and PV, batteries and grid? Kind regards, Martin

Hi Lukasz, the AC mains options can be changed on the page "System type, climate and grid", see our help pages for reference: https://help.valentin-software.com/pvsol/2020/pages/system-type-climate-and-grid/#ac-mains If you want to change a one-phase inverter to a three-phase inverter, you would have to create a copy of the inverter in the database and edit it accordingly. https://help.valentin-software.com/pvsol/2020/databases/components/inverters/ Hope that helps, kind regards, Martin

Hi patrik, thank you for your feedback. We have this feature on our list already. We understand that it would really be helpful to be able to save the mounting systems for the next project. Kind regards, Martin

Hi Habibullah, yes, this is correct. Kind regards, Martin

Hallo TomA und Tobias, könntet ihr mal einen Screenshot schicken, wo genau ihr die Wechselrichterbezeichnungen ändern möchtet? Was momentan schon geht, ist jedenfalls die Modulflächen- bzw. Verschaltungsbezeichnung zu ändern. Viele Grüße, Martin

Hi Abhinav, are you participating in the Solar Decathlon Europe? Nice to see that this competition is still running. I was also participating, in the SDE 2010 edition, with Team Berlin. What a unique time! We wish you and your team all the best! ? Regarding the curved roof: It is not possible, unfortunately, to place modules on curved roofs as yours. The reason is that PV*SOL is scanning the surface for flat planes, and it only finds small sections on your roof, see for example the blue highlighted area: This is too small to place a module there. You could redesign your model in Sketchup so that the roof consists of five segments only, so that they are large enough to host a module row. Hope that helps, kind regards, Martin

Hi Math, sorry for the late answer - I was a bit irritated as well, as the usual uninstall option seemed to have disappeared.. but then a colleague pointed me to the solution: You have to use the "old" version of the WIndows system settings feature to remove or change programs: Click on "Programs and features", search for PhotoPlan in the list, right click and select "Change". Dialogs will appear that let you uninstall PhotoPlan. Good luck, and kind regards, Martin

Hallo Simon, sorry für die späte Antwort - deine Frage ist irgendwie untergegangen. Den Dachüberstand kann man ganz gut für alle vier Seiten einstellen, indem man den Haken "Gegenüberliegende Dachflächen gemeinsam editieren" rausnimmt, und dann für jede Dachfläche nur den Wert für die Trauf-Überstände eingibt: Beste Grüße, Martin

Hi Burak, 2 MWp is really already a very large system, with about 6000 to 10000 modules depending on their power. If you use the 3D environment to design the system, PV*SOL might bring your computer to the edge of its power. Also note that PV*SOL is (still) a 32bit application, so there is a RAM limit of about 1.2 to 1.3 GB set by the operating system (Windows). This is - amongst other things - what limits PV*SOL in its capabilities. But good news is that we optimized RAM usage especially for roof top or open area mounting systems in the next release of PV*SOL premium (2020 R10), which will be released in the next days or so. If your system wasn't planned in 3D mode and you experience this kind of error, there must be some other problem. In this case I would like to ask you to send me the project file (by private message here in the forum). Kind regards, Martin

Dear Hugo, thank you for the input. We already have this feature request on our list. For very regular time shifts by 15 minutes you could use this feature here: But we know that this doesn't cover every tariff design (like yours for example). In order to estimate the cost effects of the 15 time shift, you could simulate it once with 0 minutes shift, and once again with 15 minutes. This should give you an idea of how the economics will behave. Kind regards, Martin

Hey Miguel, the lifetime of the batteres is influenced by two effects: cycle loads and time. So there are the "cyclic lifetime" and the "calendar lifetime", the first of which we can calculate, and the second is more a number that is given by the manufacturer (determined by tests). The calculation of the cyclic lifetime is described here (at the end of that page, applies also for li ion batteries: https://help.valentin-software.com/pvsol/2020/calculation/battery-systems/lead-acid-batteries/ According the standards, we consider a battery as "dead" when it has reached 80% of its initial capacity. It is then replaced by a fresh one. Hope that helps, kind regards, Martin

Hi Joao, that is correct, our simulation core doesn't support simultaneous DC and AC coupling modes. We have it on our list but we can't give a scheduled date for that feature, I am afraid. In fact, there are a plenty of device topologies and most of all energy management algorithms implemented in battery systems available on the market that we are not able to reproduce in our simulation core. As you pointed out, the topology of a system, but also the management algorithms can heavily influence the energy flow through the system. We are aware of that and as I mentioned, we have that topic already on our list. But at least we hope that the user interface of the software and the help files are always clear about what we are calculating, so that there should be misunderstandings. Kind regards, Martin

ps: die Quellenangaben zu den anderen Lastprofilen werden wir demnächst in der Hilfe beschreiben, danke fürs Drauf-Aufmerksam-Machen, dass da was fehlt. Viele Grüße, Martin

Hallo Leman, in diesem Fall würden wir stark zur Nutzung der Lastprofile in der ersten Kategorie raten - Lastprofile aus Messwerten. Dort gibt es auch Lastprofile von der HTW Berlin und dem BDEW, die bestens dokumentiert sind: https://pvspeicher.htw-berlin.de/veroeffentlichungen/daten/lastprofile/ https://www.bdew.de/energie/standardlastprofile-strom/ Diese sind auch von der Auflösung her qualitativ höherwertig. Viele Grüße, Martin

Hi Alexander, es handelt sich bei dem Absturz nicht um ein Performance-Problem, sondern um einen (zum Glück seltenen) Fehler bei der Zuordnung von Modulen und deren Schatten in 3D zu den Wechselrichtern. Für neue Fragen gerne einen neuen Thread erstellen, so bleiben sie auch für andere besser auffindbar. Danke! Viele Grüße, Martin

Hallo Alexander, schönes Projekt hast du da! Hoffentlich wird das auch so gebaut Der Grund für den Absturz der Simulation ist mit dem nächsten Release (2020 R10) behoben. Ich hoffe, das es in nicht allzu langer Zeit auf den Markt kommt. Beste Grüße, Martin

Hi Miguel, you can change the type of coupling in the battery system itself. Note that you can't change system database entries, you'll have to create your own, e.g. by copying an existing one: What I meant with connecting 3 equal DC coupled battery systems to 3 equal inverters is that. On the inverter page you have 3 times the same inverter: And then on the battery system page you'll have the battery system amount set to 3: Hope that clarifies the doubts. If you have questions, please let me know! Kind regards, Martin

Hallo Stefan, guter Punkt, wir nehmen das mal auf. Danke und viele Grüße, Martin

Hallo Alex, könntest du mir das Projekt mal schicken, dann kann ich schauen, woran es liegt und was man evtl. machen könnte. Gerne hier im Forum per privater Nachricht. Danke und viele Grüße, Martin

Hi Reint, the easiest way would be to import the comma separated values in Excel so that they appear in their own column. Refer to this short guide here : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/import-or-export-text-txt-or-csv-files-5250ac4c-663c-47ce-937b-339e391393ba The result would look like this: Then it should be easier to eliminate the columns that you don't need and compile the dat file as required. Hope that helps, kind regards, Martin

Hi Miguel, that is correct, at the moment the battery systems can only be connected to one inverter if the battery systems are DC coupled. You can change the amount of (equal) battery systems, however, so if your three inverters are the same, you can have 3 x inverter "xy" connected to 3 x dc battery system "abc". Hope that helps, kind regards, Martin