Game-changing speed: PVsyst factors in under a minute

Game-changing speed: PVsyst factors in under a minute

What used to take hours of manual work can now be completed in under 60 seconds. Our latest SunSolve Yield release transforms how solar developers generate critical PVsyst shading and mismatch factors for bifacial systems.

Since 2020, when we first established this procedure in collaboration with industry partner Array Technologies, SunSolve simulations have been used by hundreds of projects worldwide, providing the foundation for bankable, real-world modeling best practices for bifacial power plants. But until now, the process has been unnecessarily complex.

Real impact for solar developers

• Time savings: Hours of manual work reduced to under 60 seconds
• Accuracy improvement: Eliminates human error in multi-step processes
• Enhanced modeling: Include complex structural details previously impractical to analyze
• Better ROI: Faster iterations enable more thorough project optimization

The old way: Manual and error-prone

Until today, our customers have had to undertake a relatively laborious process to generate these factors: running multiple simulations with different settings, downloading the results, and importing them into a spreadsheet. The process was slower than it needed to be and prone to human error at every step.

The new way: Automated and lightning-fast

Today’s release eliminates human error from the procedure and accelerates the whole process. Users can now calculate torque tube shading and mismatch in under a minute. This high-performance solution comes with no compromise to the fidelity of the solution. Our cloud parallel processing can handle enormous levels of complexity in record time.

The technical challenge solved

Ray tracing combined with full SPICE solving presents significant computational challenges. As an example, solving just the torque-tube shading for a single day in bifacial_radiance can take almost 10 minutes on a modern CPU.

SunSolve uses efficient ray tracing algorithms and cloud computing to deliver both torque-tube shading and mismatch factors for the whole year in under a minute. That means that you no longer have to take shortcuts while modelling utility scale bifacial projects.

Beyond speed: Enhanced modeling capabilities

With such high performance, we can add more complexity to better account for real-world conditions. Instead of considering just the torque-tube, you can model the full details of a tracker or fixed system structure including the spacing around the system. This is where the transmission factor comes into play. You can use this factor to adjust your PVsyst simulation to better account for the light that falls between the bays of modules.

If you want to account for the impact of detailed structural components including gears and torque tube motors, you can import them as custom objects and include them in the analysis. You can even account for albedo boosters or variation in albedo across the ground using our wavelength-dependent materials.

As part of this release, we have added the ability to quickly compute bifacial gain of a given system and spectral correction factors, which we will cover in an upcoming post.

Get started today

This feature is available now to all SunSolve Yield subscribers. To learn how to get started check out the tutorial video below.

For new users interested in exploring SunSolve Yield’s capabilities, request a fully supported free trial to see this breakthrough performance in action. We will even help you to compare your current approach with the SunSolve approach during the trial.

Want to find out more about Generating PVsyst bifacial factors? Check out this tutorial video or contact us for a demo.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to our technical advisory committee for proposing this upgrade as a valuable addition to the pv industry.

This work was supported by funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the Australian Government, and the Australian Government does not accept responsibility for any information or advice contained herein.