jamesbm

Yes! About 4 hours on the SketchUp imported version and 2 hours on the PVSOL only version. The PVSOL version I spent more time working out the height of each building in Excel than building it.

Thanks for the reply. As we are working on funded projects we avoid user created records. We will wait for the updated modules. Any help you can give to chase Trina would be great.

As it's Friday I thought it would be nice to share an interesting PVSOL challenge and 2 solutions. I am working on a curved building with a curved roof. solution 1: modelled in SketchUp with measured flat sections on roof to place panels - this looks pretty but took ages to get curved roof to meet curved walls. Solution 2: built in PVSOL 3D design, multiple 2m wide single pitch buildings (lots of trigonometry) - this will be more flexible for small adjustments in roof pitch.

Hi PVSOL team. I have a couple of projects with new Trina modules (TSM‐285-PD05 and TSM-280PE05H). Is there anyone at Trina you can chase for this? I have emailed the request to database@valentin-software.com and asked our distributor to get on the case but no luck so far. I know Chinese new year probably isn't helping. Thanks James

This would be really helpful. Also snapping to a grid (10cm?) or snapping to end-points and mid-points.

2nd that! undo would be very helpful.

The PV*Sol guys may have a smarter way but I think you will need to set up 2 buildings (1 for East facing roof, 1 for West). Give each a single pitch roof and work out the gutter height and roof pitch so that the buildings meet at the ridge. Hope that helps. James

I can't replicate it at the moment but it has happened a few times when I go back into 3D design. Next time it happens I will send it over. Thanks James

I know sometimes variety is nice and dark blue can get a bit boring but could you look at why my panels have turned pink? This seems to happen on going back in to the 3D model. Closing and re-opening the model seems to clear the problem. Finally - is there any chance the default overview image could be set to show the whole system? it always seems to cut of a corner on the array. Thanks James

Great, thanks.

Hi, I am trying to get hold of BYD but if you have a contact could you please request that they submit data for the 275Wp modules. We are trying to use them in a project. Thanks James

thanks for your efforts.

Hi I have sent the file. Hopefully you can suggest a way to fix this. Thanks James

I have just repeated the process. The inverter change was fine. The issue seems to be trying to run results after adding specific cable details. Annoyingly even without saving after changing the cable details the original file is corrupted and can no longer be opened.

Hi, Any suggestions what might have caused this error? I updated an old model by changing an inverter and adding specific cable dimensions. The error occured when I clicked on thew results button. The file is now corrupted and I can't re-open it. I have submitted an error report. Please help!

Hi PVSOL team. Just wanted to say well done and thank you for your hard work on the latest update. It has been really annoying spending hours on a tricky design only for it to crash when it's time to simulate. So far I haven't had any crashes since the update. One of my more complex models would not run at all on V9 but works fine on V10. Well done for fixing the simulation issues. Hopefully this is a step towards removing the 5000 panel limit. Keep up the good work.

Marin, Thanks for the prompt reply. To help us manage the expectations of partners and customers can you please suggest when R8 will be released? All the best James

Hi, I understand the update to the Metonorm database (R5) changed irradiance and therefore yield. Can you please explain in a bit more detail the recent update to calculating irradiance in R7? We have seen yield numbers change (sometimes dramatically) with the R5 update and again with R7. My concern is that there may be another change soon as the data source now seems to be Meteonorm 1981-1990. Is there a reason such old data is now being used? For funded projects a change in yield mid-way though development can cause us big problems. We are keen to understand what has changed, why and what may change next. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks James

Is there any news on a fix for this? I'm having the same problem. I have fixed it by using your suggested workaround but it would be nice to bot have to fiddle around so much. Thanks

Martin, Thanks for such a comprehensive reply. It isn't great for us for ongoing projects but I obviously understand the need to use the latest information. I'm still not sure how it could be so much lower that the PVGIS number but I guess Meteonorm know what they are doing. All the best James

HI, I have noticed that 2 projects run using the same postcode with "create climate data for new location" have given very different irradiance values. The 995kWh/m2 value was produced on Friday with R5, the 876kWh/m2 was run today since the R6 update. Everything else is the same, as you can see it is the same Latitude and Longitude. PVGIS gives a value of 1030kWh/m2 so I am hoping it ends up being the higher of the 2 numbers. I have recently noticed values going up when rerunning projects after previous updates without any changes. Such large changes obviusly make a big difference to project economics, it is hard to be confident in the outputs. Are you able to explain what has changed since the update? Thanks James

Hi, I have had trouble with a pretty simple 3D model imported from Sketchup. The program crashes every time I try to define mounting areas. The problem seems to be with certain textures. I have set up a duplicate test building with a texture I know doesn't cause trouble and it works fine. Can you give any advice to identify which textures will work and which will cause problems? Thanks James

Great, thanks for the update.

Hi, I have put in a request today for the same Trina modules. Have Trina been contacted? how long does it typically take to add new modules? Thanks. James

Thanks Martin. That is good news and I understand it is tricky to allow bigger projects. Good luck with the updates!