Hello

I have several projects for which I need to run some simulations—in 3D. I want to make them as realistic as possible. I have modeled the buildings in 3D. I would like it if one could set the shadow effect, for example, to 2%, but of course, that isn’t possible in 3D. Therefore, I am asking for your help in creating a shadow effect. I am attaching two of my projects here. How do you assess whether shadows should be taken into account? I know that one can model a tree to simulate shadows, but do you find it necessary to include a shadow effect for my projects? Thank you.

Dagrofa Horsens.pvprj Dagrofa Hjørring.pvprj

Dear Anders,

Thank you for your inquiry.

To check if there are any shadowing objects that you want to include in the simulation, it's best to use the Google Solar API to display the orthophoto of the area.

Horsens (trees in the northwest are shading the roof):

Hjørring (no significant shading objects):

More information on using the Google Solar API elevation data can be found in our help section.

Okay. thank you. I have now got a API key. But I get this error when i try to download orthophoto. Why?

Hi again. I’ve figured it out now. I checked the “medium” option. I’ve now created the project with the Google API. The report says it’s only 0.1% reduction in yield due to shading. Can that be correct? Have I created the project in 3D correctly?

Dagrofa Horsens - Kopi.pvprj

Dear Anders,

Thank you for your message.

We confirm that the result of the shading analysis is plausible. The trees are not very tall and the modules are not located directly at the roof edge. It should be taken into account that the trees could grow over the operating life of the PV system.