Simulate projects with sub-hourly meteorological data down to 1 minute to calculate the energy production at sub-hourly intervals and directly download the documentation of the plant from the design process window.
pvDesign - backend v14.7.3, frontend v5.3.3
In October, we released a feature to perform sub-hourly time step simulations. Using this feature, users can better estimate the sub-hourly clipping losses when they are most relevant: under rapidly changing cloud conditions (higher annual diffuse irradiance) and for projects with higher sizing ratios.
We also make it possible to download the documentation directly from the Design Process screen.
Lastly, we have been optimizing the algorithm’s stages with the objective of reducing the time it takes to simulate a design.
New Features
- Energy production in sub-hourly timesteps: pvDesign's energy model now supports sub-hourly simulations. Sub-hourly TMYs of 15, 5, or 1 minute can be uploaded into pvDesign. The generic CSV files that are supported need as many rows as the number of the selected timestep during a year. Furthermore, the results will be reflected in the Energy Yield report and the Energy Yield results. To learn more about how to upload your sub-hourly meteorological data to pvDesign, check our article: How to upload your meteorological data to pvDesign.
- Download documentation: pvDesigns users can now download the documentation of a design directly from the Design Process facilitating the workflow. From the top bar, the currently open design documentation can be downloaded and from the history of the designs’ modal, you can download the documentation from the rest of the versions.
- Better installation of partial structures: The algorithm now prioritizes the electrical installation of partial structures that are surrounded by already electrically installed structures, or adjacent to them.
- Changes in the dropdown list of partial structures: Now, all the possible strings per structure are visible in the list of partial structures and up to five options of different structure’s length can be selected. These changes are especially useful when using thin film modules, making it easier to choose the preferred structures.
Bug fixes and improvements
We released the following minor bug fixes and improvements this month:
- Documentation from saved batch designs no longer has an expiration date.
- Save and close button added as an option when you edit a CAPEX sheet inside the Design Process which permits to run the design with the sheet’s modifications without overwriting the original CAPEX sheet.
- Improved and fixed the one diode model by giving the possibility to upload PAN files with incorrect series resistance values, which results in having a much closer one diode model used in the energy calculation to the required module power.
- Changed the adjustment of horizontal and vertical roads to use the setback offset area for a better fit of regular blocks of structures.
- Fixed a bug that was not taking the correct description in the legend of the LV SLD for the inverter.
- Updated the energy methodology.
- Fixed an error that was caused by malformed MV cable between two areas.
- Fixed an issue which could cause meteo data sources to appear twice in design process.
- Improved the calculation of image width and height for DOCX report generation.
- Fixed a bug which caused the use of location time zone instead of project time zone when uploading the first site to a project.
- Improved the SLD of DC battery energy storage system.
- Fixed an error caused by putting an AC point next to an AA hole that is closer to the AA border.
- Fixed an issue which caused some time stamps to be wrong, for the 28th of February, in some sites’ locations.
- Fixed a bug whereby Restricted Areas generated due to an OHL crossing an AA were not being considered for other AAs if it was the case that Restricted Area happened to overlap other AAs. It also removes substation areas from these auto-generated Restricted Areas.
- Forced a site failure if the elevation or meteo data are missing. This will be useful if, for example, when uploading a new site, no meteorological data is available.
- Fixed an issue that caused the wrong selection of structures in the layout.
- Fixed a bug that caused power stations to intersect with road.
- Fixed an issue where the order of elements in the power transformer table in the interconnection facility report was random.
- Fixed a bug that caused embedded power stations to remove more structures than needed.
- Improved the DC battery energy storage system’s layout to better fit between the roads.
- Fixed a bug that was causing a design error due to selecting regular block layout with certain road configurations.
- Fixed a bug that prevented the download of KML file in interactive site creation.
- Fixed a bug to ensure the distance between roads is big enough to fit a power station.
- Fixed a bug that caused areas sharing LV connection to have a capacity distribution that is not optimal.
- Fixed a bug that caused a wrong value of the total area size of the available areas in the design report.
- Fixed a bug which caused the inverter table to be missing from the energy and design reports.
- Fixed an error in LV lines caused when centroid of secondary equipment going to a central equipment in another AA falls in a restricted area.
- Fixed a bug that caused an error when requesting TMY from Solcast API.
- Fixed a bug in LV connectivity with Harness configuration.
- Fixed a bug that caused a duplication in MV cables to the substation.
- Added the structure type field to the comparison tool.
- Fixed a bug that added DC-coupled BESS information to the project sheet when the system was not available.
- Added the possibility to hide specific equipment (modules, structures, inverters) from the equipment library.
- Fixed an issue which was causing power stations to cross MV cables in roads.