SolarSimPro
Guides

SolarSimPro guides

A separate guide for every step of solar plant design: automatic layout on roofs and on land, shading analysis, energy yield simulation, feasibility and setting-out plans. Each guide explains how the work is done in the software and the engineering assumptions behind it.

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Guides by topic

Solar PV design software

The automatic design workflow for rooftop and ground-mounted plants: layout, shading, yield, feasibility and DXF from a single model.

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Automatic rooftop layout

The module count follows from the roof geometry: ridge and eave lines, parapets, chimneys and HVAC units, and setback distances.

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Automatic ground-mounted layout

From site boundary to array: table arrangement, row spacing, slope threshold and setbacks. Module count and DC capacity in a single step.

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Solar shading analysis

Measured, not estimated: ray-traced near shading, row-to-row shading, chimney and parapet shadows, with hour-by-hour losses.

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Solar energy yield simulation

All 8,760 hours of the year, one by one: performance ratio, temperature and shading losses, P50/P90 and generation-consumption matching.

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Solar feasibility report

Generate the report from the design itself: bill of materials, net metering, payback period, NPV and IRR.

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Solar terrain analysis

Which part of the site is genuinely usable: slope and aspect maps, contour lines, valley and ridge masks.

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Automatic setting-out plan

Scaled DXF, projected coordinate schedules, table blocks, terrain analysis layers and a three-dimensional KMZ.

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Solar terminology glossary

Definitions of P50/P90, performance ratio, aspect, contour, setback, net metering and setting-out plan.

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What is a solar power plant?

How a plant works and what it is made of: rooftop versus ground-mounted, installation stages and the design process.

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Solar plant installation cost

Cost comes from modules, inverters, mounting, cabling and labour. Calculate it from your own bill of materials, not a per-kWp guess.

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Solar payback period

Payback depends on investment, yield, tariff and netting together. Calculate it from your own design's cash flow, not a rule of thumb.

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Net metering calculation

Generation matched against consumption, hour by hour. Your self-consumption ratio affects payback more than installed capacity does.

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How much energy does a panel produce?

The module rating alone is not enough: location, tilt, orientation, shading and losses decide the result. Calculate the yield hour by hour.

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How many panels fit on a roof?

Dividing the area by square metres misleads. Draw the roof and see the real module count and kWp, with parapet and shading allowances.

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How many panels per hectare?

Inter-row shading distance, slope and parcel shape change the answer. Draw the parcel and see the module count and installable kWp.

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Rooftop installation, step by step

Site survey, structural check, grid application, installation and commissioning — and what to watch for at each step.

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How to choose design software

What actually differs between tools: workflow position, whether shading is measured, where costs come from and what CAD deliverable you get.

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Moving from another tool?

REAL PROJECT DELIVERABLES

Real reports. Generated directly by SolarSimPro

These are actual reports generated by SolarSimPro — not screenshots or mockups. Click «Preview» to explore the report directly on this page. Every calculation is generated from your project layout and the assumptions you define.

Ground-mounted topography analysis Open full report ↗ download

Click any card below and the report opens here. Use «Open full report» for full screen, or «download» to keep a copy.

Ground-Mounted

Rooftop

Shading animations

Shading analysis is not only a report — you can watch the day unfold. The clips below are recorded from the software's own shading scene.

Ground-mounted · shadows cast by table rows through the day
Rooftop · chimney and parapet shadows moving across the modules

Where should you start?

If you are working on a rooftop project, automatic rooftop layoutis the first guide to read; if you are working on land, automatic ground-mounted layout is. Once the layout is settled, shading analysis and energy yield simulationcomes next, then feasibility report . If any term is unfamiliar, the glossary is always open.