Inputs per area, customer usage statistics
pvDesign - backend v11.2.3, frontend v4.17.0
In June, we released a huge new feature which was a long standing user request. The inputs per area feature allows users to customize and tweak their design more deeply than before, ultimately leading to higher capacity and better PV plants.
The statistics & KPIs feature is a great tool to analyze how much your company is using pvDesign. It is also useful to get insights regarding what kind of PV plants you are designing with the software.
This month we also released many changes related to the software architecture of pvDesign, which should make it faster and more responsive than before. We also addressed some issues which were causing unexpected downtime.
New Features
The following features were released in June:
- Inputs per area: It is now possible to define some inputs for individual area. The customizable inputs are the ones found in the Layout tab of the design process. Some examples are the pitch distance, power requirements, roads layout or rotation of the structures. This feature allows users to customize the layout in each individual area: for example, it is possible to manually adjust the pitch value for fixed structures in areas with unfavorable slopes. You can also adjust the layout of the roads to better match the shape of each individual area.
- Statistics & KPIs: Company managers can now analyze the usage in their company of the pvDesign software in the new Statistics and KPIs page. It is possible to review the total number of projects and designs, the number of active users, and the total accumulated power. The new page displays the projects per country, as well as a timeline of projects and designs. It is also possible to review the average site net area, and to study the equipment usage data of the company (for example, whether you are using more trackers or fixed structures). Finally, it is also possible to see the most active users in terms of designs and uploaded sites.
Bug fixes and improvements
This month there were many minor bug fixes and improvements, which are listed below:
- It is now possible to upload custom topography files in .xyz and .txt formats.
- Improved the modal used to create a design. The design name field is now wider.
- Improved the tables in the project page.
- Changed the colors of the modals used to confirm the deletion of an element.
- Reimplemented the button to download the topography slopes document from design process.
- Show an explanation about the zoom level when enabling the US parcels feature in the interactive site creation.
- Improved the intersecting RA notification in the interactive site creation tool.
- Fixed the create design modal so that when the enter key is pressed, a design is created.
- Fixed an inconsistency when using imperial units as the user's default.
- Fixed an issue which caused the financial values to reset after a recalculate operation.
- Fixed a bug which caused the download documents window to scroll when selecting a document.
- Fixed an issue which occurred when the design name contained special characters.
- Fixed a bug in the unit converter related to mass units.
- Fixed the labels for the inverters in power station input when selecting an EW structure.
- Fixed typos in the design process.
- Fixes a simulation error related to the connection of the MV system to the substation.
- Fixes a bug which could cause overlapping structures in batch simulation mode.
- Improved the recommendation for the number of strings inverters per power station for small sites.
- Fixed an issue which occurred when the user had enabled inputs per area and changed to another site.
- Fixed a bug which caused simulation errors when using restricted areas for the OHL.
- Fixed the horizon source text in the design and energy reports.
- Fixed an error which occurred when sharing the LV system between areas, and which could cause simulation errors.
- Fixed a bug that was causing the maximum number of strings per inverter not to be recalculated.
- Fixed an issue which could occur when using the no roads option.
- Fixed a bug which could cause simulation errors.
- Fixes an issue which occurred when the site had very thin areas, and which could cause simulation errors.
- Fixed a bug which caused the web version of the layout 3D to look wrong.
- Fixes an issue which could occur when sharing the LV system between areas and there were areas without any power station.
- Fixed an issue which could cause simulation failures when sharing the LV system between areas, due to an error in the power distribution algorithm.
- Fixed a bug which occurred in the design process page when using inputs per area, which caused the recalculate operation to fail.
- Fixed a bug which occurred when calculating the offset geometry of a multi geometry.
- Fixed a bug which occurred when calculating the intersection of two geometries.
- Fixed some issues which could cause pvDesign server crashes.
- Improved the performance of some key endpoints in the pvDesign server.
- Ensure that the length of the battery elements is always larger than its width, by switching user input if necessary.
- Fixed a bug which caused a recalculate error when the estimated power was zero.
- Fixed a bug which caused a simulation failure in the OHL when the elevation was too high.