PVcase is a plugin that runs inside AutoCAD, known for terrain-aware layouts on ground-mount sites and a natural choice for engineering teams who want to stay in a CAD environment. SolarSimPro takes a different route: the design is done in the browser and carried into CAD as a DXF export. The distinction is not in a capability list but in where your team works.
PVcase lives inside AutoCAD and requires a CAD licence and a desktop installation. SolarSimPro runs in the browser and needs neither installation nor a licence key.
Designing in the browser and taking the setting-out plan as DXF lets team members who do not use CAD take part in the design, while the drawing still opens in a CAD environment.
Slope, aspect and contour analysis, inter-row shading distance and tables following ground elevation are all part of the SolarSimPro ground-mount workflow.
Six roof types, parapet and chimney obstacles, a real layout and near-shading analysis are in the same program, using the same feasibility model as the ground-mount side.
If your drawing standards are baked into CAD layers you do not lose them: the setting-out plan is produced as DXF, the file opens in AutoCAD and is edited to your own standard. The only thing that changes is that designing no longer depends on an AutoCAD licence — the designer, whoever runs the numbers and the site team all look at the same project from a browser.
Where the person doing the design and the person using CAD are different, however, or where site and office need to look at the same file, a workflow that does not depend on a CAD licence is faster.
The table below shows where and how the same job gets done in each tool.
| Step | In PVcase | In SolarSimPro |
|---|---|---|
| Setup and access | Runs as a plugin inside AutoCAD; needs a CAD licence and a desktop install. | Opens in the browser; no installation, licence key or hardware dongle. |
| Defining the site | The site boundary comes from the CAD drawing. | Draw the roof outline, or pull the parcel in by cadastral query. |
| Terrain data | Known for terrain-aware layout. | Slope, aspect and contours are derived from the site itself. |
| Module layout | Slope-aware automatic layout on ground-mount sites. | Generated automatically from obstacles, slope and setbacks; editable by hand. |
| Near shading | Row-spacing shading calculation. | Ray-traced near shading with an hourly loss map. |
| Yield calculation | This step is handled separately. | 8,760-hour simulation; PVGIS-SARAH3 irradiance data, PR and P50/P90. |
| Bill of materials | This step is handled separately. | Derived from the layout and the DC capacity. |
| Cost and feasibility | This step is handled separately. | Unit-price database, cash flow, payback, NPV, IRR and net metering from one model. |
| Deliverables | The CAD drawing itself. | Setting-out DXF, coordinate list CSV, KMZ and a client-ready report. |
The lower half of the table is what the proposal is made of: materials, cost, feasibility and CAD output. In SolarSimPro these follow directly from the layout — change the module count and all four are recalculated, with nothing carried across by hand.
The setting-out plan is produced as DXF, coordinate lists as CSV and the 3D model as KMZ. These files open and can be edited in AutoCAD and equivalent programs.
So you are not giving up the CAD environment; only the design step happens outside it, and the result is carried back in.
The fastest route is to rebuild a project you have delivered and compare the resulting DXF against your own drawing standard.
With a plugin approach the person doing the design has to be sitting in AutoCAD. Anyone on the team who does not use CAD — whoever runs the numbers, prepares the quotation or looks at it from site — cannot take part in the design directly.
SolarSimPro separates the design from CAD: the layout is built in the browser and the result is carried into CAD as DXF. Three people can work on the same project from different computers, and only the person editing the drawing needs AutoCAD.
The gain shows up in the revision. Change the layout and the bill of materials, cost, yield and payback update together; the setting-out plan is regenerated. No redrawing in CAD, no manual correction in a spreadsheet.
No. The design is done in the browser. AutoCAD is only needed if you want to open and edit the exported DXF; it is not required for the design step.
As DXF. Coordinate lists come as CSV and the 3D model as KMZ; a satellite base image and a terrain analysis sheet can also be included in the package.
It is. Slope and aspect analysis is performed, row spacing is set from the shading calculation, and the tables follow the ground elevation, sitting at their true levels in the 3D output.
Yes. Six roof types, parapet and chimney obstacles, a real layout and near-shading analysis are all part of the rooftop workflow.
The setting-out plan is produced as layered DXF and opens in AutoCAD and equivalent programs; you can edit layer names and line types to your own standard. A coordinate list as CSV and a KMZ come with it.
Slope, aspect and contour analysis are part of the ground-mount workflow; row spacing for shading and the level tracking of the tables are computed from that analysis. You can pull the parcel in by its cadastral number.
Rebuilding a project you have already delivered and comparing the resulting DXF against your own drawing standard is the fastest test. Pull in the parcel, pick the same obstacles and module, and you see the result on day one.
Rebuild a site, download the setting-out plan and compare it against your own drawing standard.