New TMY upload dialog, new energy parameters, simulation time improvements
pvDesign - version 4.6.49
New features
In this update, we have improved many of our existing functionalities and revisited some algorithms which were causing problems in edge-case simulations. Find below a list of the changes in this update:
- New TMY upload dialog: We have reworked the CSV upload dialog for meteorological data. You can now upload data from many different sources, such as SolarGIS, Meteonorm, or SolarAnywhere. If the CSV file contains errors or unexpected values and the file is rejected, you will be able to check the errors in the Error Details dialog.
- New energy parameters: You can now set the wind heat transfer coefficient under the Advanced Parameters in the Energy tab. Wind speed data is only available if you upload a TMY in hourly format with the corresponding wind speed column. Additionally, you can now modify the time shift in minutes for the energy simulation.
- Extended charset for project names: You can now use UTF-8 characters in the project name and simulation name. With this change, it is now possible to name projects using Chinese or Arabic characters, for example.
- Optimized roads layout algorithm: We improved the roads layout algorithm to address some issues which occurred in very complex layouts using the topography analysis tool. Some simulations which were taking too long to finish should now be completed in minutes.
- Simplified GCR calculation: The GCR is now calculated using a simplified definition which consists in dividing the table width by the pitch. For fixed structures, the table width is projected on the ground using the tilt value.
- Improved topography analysis with Google Earth data: We increased the resolution of the Google Earth elevation data source for PV plants smaller than 1000ha, and we tweaked the DEM interpolator configuration to enhance the quality of the results. These changes should result in more realistic topography analysis results.
- Modified switching and breaking station limits: We changed the limits for making the switching and breaking station available for selection. Now it is available for plants whose capacity is lower than 60 MVA, the total current is lower than 1250 A, and medium voltage level lower than 50 kV.
Improvements and bug fixes
In this update we also made the following improvements:
- In the rejected structures sheet of the Listing of Posts, there is now a column indicating if the structure was rejected because its block was rejected.
- In the detailed hourly production sheet of the Energy XLSX results document, there are now columns showing the values of the irradiance on the POA and the effective irradiance.
- We fixed some bugs which were causing simulations to fail when using the topography analysis tool.
- We fixed a bug that could cause power stations to be overlapped.