Updates October 2019

New login authentication, improved energy module, adjust the inverter power.

pvDesign - version 3.1.14

In the past couple of months we have made some big changes to the internal architecture of pvDesign. Here is a summary of the new features:

  • New login authentication using AWS Cognito: We changed how pvDesign handles the authentication of users in the platform. Now, users will authenticate through AWS Cognito, using OAuth2 or federated authentication. The security of our web application is very important for us, and this change will make pvDesign much more secure. If you want to know more about federated authentication, please contact our support team.

New login page

  • New energy yield calculation module: We have completely remade the energy yield module to allow for more extensibility and modularity. The changes were made to be able to implement new types of structures and photovoltaic modules. Additionally, there was a significant increase in the performance of the module, leading to a reduction of around 20 seconds in the simulation time for all simulations.
  • Adjust the inverter rated power: A feature our users have been requesting for a long time, it allows you to adjust the power value which will be used for sizing the power plant. This can be used to make modifications to the plant power rating depending on the mean temperature or altitude of the site. The energy production of the inverter is limited according to this value as well.
  • Cable identification codes: You can now find cable identification codes in the listing of cables and in the layout. The layout DXF file contains the codes in separated layers. To understand how the codes are formed, have a look at the listing of cables.

Cable codes in the layout

We also made some other minor improvements and bug fixes:

  • We improved the pictures shown when a KML with errors is uploaded.
  • When selecting regular blocks in new design, the correct block size is now shown (the size of the power station block).
  • We fixed some bugs in the medium voltage single line diagrams.
  • We fixed a bug in the calculation of roads which was causing some designs to fail.
  • We changed the available cable sections for the string inverter cables, so that more realistic cables are used.
  • The kVA curves of the inverters are now shown in the inverter details.
  • The UTM convergence value is now shown in the layout and in the web interface.