Terrain-following Trackers
An exciting recent development in the field of PV mounting structures is the Terrain-following single-axis tracker. Terrain-following trackers are a revolutionary technology that can unlock the potential of solar energy on previously infeasible sites.
Terrain-following trackers are a sub-type of single-axis trackers that can adapt to the contours of the land, reducing the need for extensive earthwork and grading. They can lower the project costs and risks, as well as minimize the environmental impact of solar power plants on sites with sloped, uneven, and challenging terrain. Terrain-following trackers simplify pole design as a consistent height can be applied across the installation. They also enable higher power density and energy yield by maximizing the use of available land.
In this release, you will be able to generate Terrain-following trackers in the same way as you would generate other Single-axis trackers.
Where
Under Frame and Park Settings, choose a Single Axis Tracker type Frame Preset. Tick the checkbox beside "Terrain-following trackers". By clicking on Settings, you can define the maximum angle allowed between Frame sections on the Tracker.
How
Open the Custom piling Tab.
The terrain-following tracker will be generated with a hinge / cardain at each Joint gap. You can change the layout of the Joints by modifying the number of PV modules in each Group within the Frame preset. Positioning the motor also works as well.
To make things easier, we have added the option to "Place piles at joints," which saves a bit of time for those piling setouts. Otherwise, you can still place the poles manually along the Frame, as before.
Pro Tip
After Generating the PV layout, you may get some Frames that exceed the angle limits. These will be indicated and selected. You can right-click on the selected frames and choose "Swap Preset" to change to another Frame type. For example, one that has a higher angle tolerance or perhaps a different pole arrangement.
Grade multiple areas at once
Now it's possible to grade more than one area at once to save time with your Ground grading work.
Where
Under Civil Analysis, choose the Ground grading tab, and Grade the selected surfaces.
How
The results of the entire grading operation will be shown here:
To see the individual PV area grading volumes, go to Layout Information, and enable the columns for Cut, Fill, and Net. The total is still displayed at the bottom.
Show/hide Piling Information
We have moved the Piling information to a more convenient spot on the toolbar. Now, you can show and hide the Piling information. It is in the same interface as the Piling objects.
Manually update electrical labels will be shown in BOM
We heard your feedback about electrical device labelling. What if we change the label manually in AutoCAD? Now, any manually altered label (call it what you want, no really) will be reflected in the BOM and the Electrical Overview. Try it out!
Minor Updates
On Terrain-following tracker settings, user can decide whether the Motor location has hinge or not. This allows for tracker types which have a motor gap that does not bend.
For Single axis trackers, under Civil analysis with Terrain limit enabled, the maximum option has been disabled. Now, only the minimum terrain clearance will be calculated.
Under Project settings, when Shading limit angle is selected, the correct text is displayed. This is to avoid confusion about whether the sun position or the shading angle is used for site generation.