I don't know what was in the air these last few weeks in Lithuania, but the developers have been coding up a storm. So much new functionality, I don't know where to start! So let's do it alphabetically.
A is for AC power rating of electrical devices
When it comes to PV plant design, AC is just as important as DC. In fact you could say there is no High Voltage without AC/DC.*
Where
In Electrical design, under Electrical devices, you will see the AC Power in kW for each inverter.
How
Simply enter the AC power rating for the inverter. Once you attach strings to the inverter, you see the DC/AC ratio on the Electrical Overview.
B is for Batch Trees update
The trees are batch generating again properly. Now they will take into account the height, and the diameter of the CAD object. It even works with pine trees.
Where
Under Shading objects, select Trees, and Batch create.
How
Choose the object which indicates the external boundary of the tree, then the height. The diameter of the tree will be scaled to fit the object.
C is for Cable Routing
The GM algorithm is programmed to find the shortest cable route. But sometimes, that isn't what you want. In that case, you can now toggle the cabling algorithm to stick to the trench. This should help keep your cable route where you want it.
Where
In Electrical design, under Cabling, choose the cable stickiness between the shortest path (previous behavior) and follow trenchline, which will force the cable to follow your trenchline more closely.
How
After making your choice for cable stickiness, run cable generation as normal.
D is for Dual Row Tracker display updates
To aid the visualization of the dual row tracker constraints, we have added further info to the detailed view. For each tracker pair, you can now see the angle difference in both directions. This should make it easier to spot the problems when doing dual row tracker layouts.
Where
Go into Civil analysis, Slope analysis, and Show details.
How
The β value represents the difference in the north-south slope between the two frames. The γ value shows the slope in the east-west direction between the two frames. The arrow shows the slope from the reference of the motor frame.
E is for Electrical Design colors
Not enough colors to cover your umpteenth inverter? Never fear, you can now add more colors per row, and also randomize them for that ever popular disco floor effect.
Where
Under Electrical design, go to Color coding.
How
You can add up to 18 colors per row, and use the randomize button to change the colors with no effort whatsoever.
F is for File import KML
Do you have some design information saved in a Google Earth KML or KMZ file? This can be added to your georeferenced design quickly and easily.
Where
Click the dropdown on the Import terrain menu, and select Import KML
How
The selected KML or KMZ will be added to your layout, on the layer "PVcase KML"
G is for Grouping
Many of you requested that the grouping function be tweaked. Grouping normally creates a new PV area. Now, you can choose to keep the PV in the original area, but still surround it with a useful polyline for easier identification.
Where
On the command line, type "pvcasegrouping" and press enter.
How
After choosing to group by capacity or number of strings, you can choose to make a new PV area, or just create a polyline around the selected objects.
H is for Hope you enjoyed these release notes
See you next time!
Minor changes
You can now change Location and Terrain import after it has already been done.
Online terrain import size increased to 200ha per import, and up to 5000ha per user per week.
For setting the location, when you search with a latitude and longitude, press enter to set this exact location. You won't need to choose the nearest town or village anymore.
Generate piles now gives the choice to generate 3d polylines or 3d objects.
Updates 2.27.0.36
Connect electrical devices to a different parent device.
Change colors for dual-row tracker constraints indication.
Updates 2.27.0.57
EW Frame horizontal and vertical module gap increase to 3m for Agri PV
Bug fixes and minor updates
*I can't believe we've made it this far without an AC/DC reference.