Teams usually start looking for a different tool for practical reasons: the workflow is split across three programs, the CAD deliverable arrives late, and the financial model lives in a spreadsheet. SolarSimPro puts layout, shading, yield, quantities, financials and CAD output on one model, in the browser.
The reasons we hear most often are practical rather than technical:
Site → module → layout → analysis → materials → feasibility → proposal → deliverables. Each step reads the previous one. No data is entered twice, and changing one input updates everything downstream.
No installation, no dongle, no IT approval. Projects are stored against your account, so they follow you to any machine you sign in from.
Near shading is ray traced using the sun's hourly position through the year, per module and per table. Change the row spacing and the module count, shading loss and annual yield all move together.
The bill of materials is derived from DC capacity, module count, inverters and table count — with your own unit prices, saved and reused on later projects.
A scaled DXF with title block, coordinate schedules, table blocks and analysis layers, in a projected coordinate system. The file attached to the proposal is the file the crew works from.
Two applications sharing one calculation core, so the same module and inverter give the same yield in both.
Being straightforward about this saves everyone time:
For pre-feasibility through to the technical annex of a proposal — layout, shading, yield, quantities, financials and CAD — it covers the whole chain in one place.
The fastest way to judge any design tool is to look at what it hands over. Our sample reports and DXF files from real projects are open — no sign-up:
Open the sample outputs Request a session on your own project
Yes. Site boundaries and topography can be imported from KML/KMZ, DXF or CSV. If the DXF contains elevations the layout follows them; otherwise elevations are taken from a digital elevation model. Coordinate systems are detected from the location, with worldwide support including UTM, Gauss-Krüger and national grids.
Near shading is computed by ray tracing from the sun's hourly position across the year, reported per module and per table, as a month-by-hour matrix and as critical day profiles. Row-to-row shading responds to spacing changes and feeds the yield automatically. The reports also state their limits: undrawn neighbouring structures are not modelled and must be verified on site.
The yield simulation uses long-term satellite-derived climate data and reports P50 and P90 with an uncertainty breakdown, combining components by root sum of squares rather than adding them linearly. Year-to-year variability is measured from the project's own multi-year series.
No. Designs are not deleted when a licence ends; only licensed output generation stops. Projects are stored against your account, not in the browser, so clearing browser data does not remove them.
Yes. Unit prices you enter are saved to your own database and suggested on later projects, and the catalogue can be exported as JSON and shared with your team.