PV roof layout

Site

Footprints and heights from OpenStreetMap, shown in 3D. Where OSM has no height, 6 m is assumed.

Google satellite imagery

Paste a Google Maps Platform key with the Map Tiles API enabled, restricted to this site's address. It is kept in this browser only and never saved in project files. Google gives 100,000 tiles a month free; above that it charges.

Monthly limit for this browser (tiles)

3D surroundings: monthly limit (sessions)

Counted in this browser only: other people using the same key, and other devices, are not included. The true total and cost are in the Google Cloud console (Map Tiles API > Metrics, and Billing > Reports). At the limit the map switches back to Esri imagery.

Roofs

Drawing snaps to corners, edges, ridges, 90° and 45° (hold Alt to draw freely). Type a length and press Enter for an exact side. For gable and hip roofs, click the four corners; the tool squares them up.

L, T and U shapes, dormers

Draw each wing as its own gable or hip roof, overlapping the main roof and running into it up to its ridge. Where roofs overlap, the highest surface wins: valleys, hidden wing ends and walls are worked out for you, and modules keep the edge setback from valleys.

For a dormer, draw a small gable on the slope with its front on the eaves line, then raise its eaves height.

Obstacles

Click the roof to place it. Obstacles line up with the roof automatically. Select one and use Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V to copy it to the cursor.

Module

Datasheet values

Manufacturer Model Length (mm) Width (mm) Frame depth (mm) Weight (kg) Pmax (Wp) Max system voltage (V) Voc (V) Isc (A) Vmp (V) Imp (A) Pmax coefficient (%/°C) Voc coefficient (%/°C) Isc coefficient (%/°C) Cells Technology Bifaciality (0–1)

Values at STC from the datasheet. Changing the size re-lays every array.

Inverters

Lowest site temperature (°C)Hottest cell temperature (°C)

Click next to a building wall to hang it on the wall (outside or inside, depending on which side you click), or anywhere else for a free-standing unit.

Cable trays

Click along the route. Points land on the roof, on the outside wall (click just outside it) or on the ground; end next to an inverter to connect it, or on another tray for a tee. P makes the last point a roof or wall penetration.

Irradiance and shading

Weather Year

Losses and assumptions

Soiling (%) LID (%) Module mismatch, string inverters (%) Mismatch with optimisers (%) Optimiser efficiency (%) DC string cable (mm²) AC losses (%) Downtime (%) Ground albedo Uc flush-mounted (W/m²K) Uc on racks (W/m²K)

Cell temperature uses the PVsyst model with these heat-loss factors (20 for modules close to the roof, 29 for free-standing racks). DC cable lengths come from the cable routing when the strings reach a tray; otherwise each string is given twice (the cable allowance + 15 m).

Show on the modules

Colour the modules by

Sun and shadows

Put the sun in the 3D view

Date Time

Place modules

Select a roof, then fill it, fill drawn areas, or drag blocks onto any roof face. Click a module to select its array. Right-click a module to remove or restore it; right-click an empty spot on a roof to add a single module.

Rows per block Modules per row

Snap to the roof grid Leave out modules that don’t fit

Drag across a roof face to draw a block, or click to drop one. Hold Shift to pan.

Export

Include buildings and obstacles Include mounting rails

PVsyst 3D scene

PV tables (rows, columns, spacing, orientation, tilt, azimuth, module) plus the building, parapets, obstacles, trees and nearby buildings as shading objects. In PVsyst: Near shadings, Construction / Perspective, File, Import.

Model origin (ground level)

Getting it into Google Earth

KML is placed automatically: in Google Earth web use Projects, New project, Import KML file.

GLB: Add, 3D model, Upload from device, then place it at the model origin with heading 0°. Metres, north up, origin at ground level.

Google Earth usually has its own 3D buildings, so leave buildings out when you only want the arrays.

PV roof layout

Roof, inverter, string and tray summary

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