The design and simulation software for photovoltaic systems

PV*SOL is a dynamic simulation program for the design and optimization of photovoltaic systems in combination with appliances, battery systems and electric vehicles.
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PV*SOL

 

With PV*SOL you can deisgn and simulate all types of modern PV systems. From the small rooftop system with a few modules to medium-sized systems on commercial roofs to large solar parks with up to 100,000 modules - PV*SOL supports you with numerous tools for design and simulation. Choose the type of design that best suits you and your PV project! The detailed results provide information about the performance of your system at all times.

Whether calculating self-consumption, designing battery storage or integrating electric vehicles - with PV*SOL you can implement and present all customer wishes in no time at all.

You can use our extensive product database at any time. It currently includes over 21,000 PV modules, 5,100 inverters, 1,900 battery systems and many other products such as electric vehicles and performance optimizers. It is updated regularly by the product manufacturers themselves, so that you can always work with the latest data.

You can generate high-quality project reports for your customers that can be configured and edited as required. Circuit diagrams with the necessary safety devices can also be created, e.g. for submission to the relevant authorities.

The current feed-in tariffs are already available in our database for the calculation of economic efficiency. Supplemented with the information on the system costs, you will receive a detailed and meaningful economic analysis of the plant over 20 years.

This way you can get an initial offer in just a few minutes, which you can refine afterwards if the customer is interested.

Our technical support team and our online help support you with open questions and in our forum you can put more complex questions to our team and other users of PV*SOL and quickly receive an answer.

Would you like to try out whether PV*SOL fits your design process? Download the free trial version now and get an impression of the program functionalities!

 
 

“I like PV*SOL because it is very user-friendly and easy to work with. It gives you the opportunity to visualize how your PV panels will look on buildings or support structures.”

Tinashe Tavengwa

Lifehouse Engineering (South Africa)

“I love your software and can not imagine a career in solar installations without PV*SOL.”

Ola Gunnar Flintegård

Krøderen Elektro AS (Norway)

“Outstanding software. Is there anyone not using it?”

James Beaumont

Qualis Renewables (UK)

 

Product highlights

More program details

Polystring connection

PV*SOL offers flexible polystring connection options, optionally with or without a power optimizer, to connect completely different strings in parallel or in series to an MPP tracker. You can connect module areas from east-west roofs in parallel to one MPP tracker.

Grid-connected systems with battery storage

Design your own battery storage systems by selecting the batteries used and defining the battery inverter and charging strategy. Alternatively, you can charge battery systems from leading manufacturers .

Electric vehicles

Select one or more electric vehicles that are simulated in combination with the photovoltaic system. By entering the daily mileage and the downtimes, PV*SOL calculates how much PV energy can be used to charge the electric vehicles.

Summary of results

The detailed results overview contains representations of the simulation results, the results of cost-effectiveness and a detailed tabular energy balance with all the gains and losses that occur. Carpetplots immediately provide you with an annual overview of individual results.

 
Circuit diagram

PV*SOL supports your system design with a freely configurable circuit diagram. Both the string cable losses and the AC and DC cable losses per inverter can be determined. Numerous safety devices such as fuses, switch disconnectors and surge protection can be easily added.

Various types of design

In addition to simple system design, PV*SOL offers you the option of working with the integrated photo measurement program PhotoPlan. Using a photo and a reference dimension, the respective roof with the potential PV system can be displayed in a photo-realistic manner. A graphic 2D planning tool is also available.

Calculation of bifacial modules

Use mounted bifacial modules to utilize the radiation on the backs of the modules. These radiation gains and the resulting yield are listed in the energy balance and in the project report.

Other features

Choose which models you want to use for diffuse radiation and radiation on the inclined surface. The U-I and U-P characteristics for each time step can be produced when required. You can also save the horizon lines and module degradation per module area.

Licensing and pricing

 

System requirements and release notes

System requirements

PV*SOL
  • Internet connection
  • Processor: Intel i3, AMD Ryzen 3 or higher
  • RAM: 4 GB
  • Hard disk space: 1,2 GB
  • Resolution display: at least 1.280 x 768 pixels
  • Operating system: Windows 10 (64 bit, latest service pack required), Windows 11 (64 bit)
  • Graphics: 2 GB, OpenGL
  • Others: Microsoft .Net Framework 4.8 Redistributable Package

You can download our free trial version and test whether PV*SOL can be run on your computer!

Release Notes

February 13th 2024PV*SOL 2024 Release 4

The following new features and changes are included:

  • Battery systems:
    • Creating battery system groups.
    • Free assignment of DC-coupled battery systems to different inverters.
    • Time-controlled charging and discharging.
  • Revised Photo Plan:
    • Display of half-cell modules.
    • Display of dark backsheets for monocrystalline modules.
    • New photo texture for polycrystalline and monocrystalline modules.
    • Module spacing can be saved as default.
  • MeteoSyn:
    • Meteonorm 8.2 with climate data period 2001-2020.
    • Self-created data records can now be deleted in the list view by right-clicking.
    • Improved input of geographical coordinates when creating new locations.
    • Improvement of the classification of PVGIS, SolarAnywhere & Solcast in the database checkup / auto-import.
    • Check climate data in the detail window for unnatural irradiation values at the beginning or end of the day and, if necessary, output in the info area.
    • Logos for the respective climate data providers in the detail window.
    • Help in Meteosyn detail view.
    • Temperatures are now displayed in list view with one decimal place.
    • Note if the database is set to "Read-only" in the access rights.
    • Improvement in finding duplicates in the database checkup.
  • Charging stations for electric vehicles with automatic phase switching (allows 1-phase charging even in a 3-phase grid).
  • New load profiles according to VDI 4655 in 1- and 15-minute resolution.
  • Project preview on Welcome page.
  • Configuration rules for SolarEdge Synergy inverters extended.
  • SolarEdge design rules for the RWB48 and RWS inverters included.
  • Check of the maximum short-circuit current of the inverter in accordance with IEC 60364-7-712.
  • When entering PV modules, invalid low-light parameters are better intercepted.
  • More detailed error message when importing load profiles that are imported with the "Line per day" option.
  • Dialog for selecting new database entries when opening old projects can now be exited with the Enter key.
  • Validation when copying inverters in the database now always checks the presence of the AC nominal voltage.
  • When the program is started, the local consumption and MeteoSyn databases are automatically checked and, if necessary, repaired.
  • Database import of *.ond files for inverters.
  • The dialogs for importing *.pan files have been revised.
  • Inverter efficiency calculation in the undefined range between 0 and 5 % load logarithmic instead of linear.
  • DC-coupled battery systems now better anticipate the power required by consumers, considering the efficiency of the PV inverter.
  • In the simulation, the defined value from the database is now used for the maximum DC power of the MPP tracker of an inverter.
  • The synthesis of minute values has been optimized. Hours with a clear-sky radiation of less than 50 W/m² are no longer considered when classifying the daily weather. Already synthesized minute values of locations are synthesized again.
  • The start of PV*SOL is prevented if the decimal and digit grouping symbol are identical.
  • Display of a progress bar when saving projects.
  • AC Mains voltage is now set automatically based on the selected country of the climate data record.
  • Improvements to the Czech translation.

The following bugs have been fixed:

  • Crash on the results page if the decimal and digit grouping symbol are identical.
  • Options dialog: Crash prevented when loading invalid AC grid data.
  • Check of the entry of valid e-mail addresses in the dialog for sending the DB user ID improved.
  • Sorting of characteristic curve working points for polystring configuration improved.
  • Error in the overlaying of characteristic curves.
  • Crash when descriptions in load profiles are too long.
  • Projects with 2D roof view that contain a module that differs from the one in the module selection can now be reloaded and edited.
  • Crash during the simulation of DC generator-coupled battery systems.
  • Error when determining the valid discharge power of DC-coupled battery systems.
  • Check of correct configuration of inverters and DC-coupled battery systems adjusted.
  • Crash in simulation when DC-coupled battery systems were discharged with higher power than the maximum PV inverter power and the PV inverter has the same value in the last two efficiency curve points.
  • Crash in simulation in hourly resolution when DC-coupled lead-acid batteries had to be simulated with 1-minute calculation steps.
  • Crash in simulation when two DC generator-coupled battery systems were connected to different MPP trackers on the same PV inverter.
  • MeteoSyn:
    • Corrected misspelling of locations in default database.
    • When creating locations, the OK button was not selectable under certain circumstances.
    • Crash in Meteosyn when nothing was found during the search.
    • P10 and P90 values of the annual global radiation sum in MeteoSyn detail view corrected.
  • Photo Plan: Images in 32bit *.png format no longer appear grayed out.
  • Photo Plan: Problems with special characters and encoding.
August 10th 2023PV*SOL 2023 Release 7

The following new features and changes are included:

  • Tool for climate data checking in MeteoSyn. This performs a check of the MeteoSyn database in four phases:
    • Checking the files and database entries for invalid data or data with reduced quality.
    • Search for duplicates in WBV files.
    • Search for duplicates in database entries.
    • Search for imports and updates.
  • In MeteoSyn, all relevant information about the selected climate data set is displayed as a tooltip (with the mouse pointer on green, large text at the bottom right of the window).
  • The country of the climate data location is now preselected in the tariff selection dialog.
  • New SolarEdge configuration rules (maximum difference between shortest and longest string).
  • SolarEdge power optimizers now have a fixed efficiency in the bypass, independent of load.
  • New design rules for the SolarEdge hybrid inverters.
  • If a configuration has more parallel strings than DC inputs to the inverter, a message appears.
  • If the input current at the MPP tracker is exceeded, then the short circuit current at the MPP tracker is now also checked.
  • The maximum feed-in power clipping can now also be defined via the maximum feed-in power.
  • In the configuration check, exceeding the maximum DC power at inverter and MPP tracker level now results in a warning.
  • New project option: "Allow configuration despite limit value exceeded".
  • In the system check, the restricted range has been renamed to clipping range.
  • When editing configurations with many inverters, the list no longer jumps to the beginning.
  • The "Cumulative Total Energy generation" diagram is now also available for projects with surplus feed-in.
  • Validation of self-created PV modules to avoid false entries: Relative efficiency must no longer be greater than 120%.
  • In case of crashes due to OneDrive not running, an appropriate message appears.
  • The main window can now be positioned again using the Windows and arrow keys.
  • Serbian as project report language.

The following bugs have been fixed:

  • Crash on Battery Systems page when a large number (>100) of battery systems were selected as favorites and "Select from favorites" was selected in the quick selection.
  • Some edit fields were incorrectly set to multiline.
  • When entering text in some edit fields, the cursor always jumped to the beginning of the edit field.
  • Text fields, e.g. on the page “Project Data”, sometimes did not behave correctly when using backspace and delete key if characters were selected.
  • Partially, the designation of the module surfaces in the selection drop-down menu in the interconnection dialog could no longer be read because the designation was too long. The dialog box has now been widened.
  • The name of load profiles could not be edited.
  • When using daily load profiles in combination with the input of monthly and annual values, the import of load profiles was previously also active.
  • In the window Cables the number of DC inputs per inverter was sometimes not presented correctly.
  • The parts list was sometimes not displayed correctly.
  • Projects with power optimizers connected in 1x2 configuration on multiple module surfaces could not be simulated depending on the climate data record.
  • Partial crash when simulating configurations with power optimizers with 2x1 configuration on multiple module surfaces.
  • Notification email after non-crash error report is now sent out again.
  • Crash when loading and displaying the project image when the file is used by another process.
  • Crash in project comparison when accessing the clipboard.
  • Crash in the updater of the consumption database.
  • Disabled DPI awareness switch in the WPF interface library to minimize problems on high resolution monitors.
  • Improvement of translations.
February 20th 2023PV*SOL 2023 Release 3

The following new features and changes are included:

  • New climate data for Germany (Valentin Software TMY procedure with DWD data as basis, 1995 – 2012).
  • New Default Climate data record Berlin (1995-2012, DWD TMY3 (Valentin Software)) when using Project > New.
  • SolarAnywhere as additional climate data provider.
  • Revised Meteosyn interface in the "Generate climate data for new location" dialog.
  • Improvement of the location search in Meteosyn.
  • Revised configuration check:
    • Maximum short circuit current at the inverter and MPP trackers is now considered.
    • Validity states have been revised and a prohibition range has been added if the short-circuit is exceeded.
  • Monthly consumption values can be provided with daily load profiles.
  • Number of maximum tariff periods extended from 12 to 24.
  • Conversion of efficiency curves from AC to DC side improved.
  • Progress of the yield simulation is now displayed in the PV*SOL program icon in the taskbar.
  • Installation: Checkbox to select or deselect desktop icon creation.
  • If multiple feed-in tariffs are selected, they are sorted by start date.
  • Searching in the consumption database is now possible.
  • Text fields (e.g. on project data page) now with context menu for copy, paste etc.
  • Note on changed observation period in the cash flow table when loading older projects located outside Germany.
  • The update display window now informs about the used and available version and shows the current release notes (takes effect from next update).

The following bugs have been fixed:

  • Disappearing windows in 4K monitor setups that caused the program to become unusable.
  • Crash when starting PV*SOL in old .NET version (.NET 4.0.30319).
  • Installation crashed when using personal folders on network drives. User now receives corresponding message.
  • The operating mode for parallel connection of MPP trackers was sometimes not set correctly.
  • Error in thermal simulation.
  • Climate data locations from Meteonorm with incorrect annual global radiation sum.
  • Display of cloud when switching to inverter page if no inverters were in the inverter selection.
  • Tab order in the inverter window was corrected.
  • When the program language was Turkish, the country names were not displayed in Turkish.
  • SolarEdge rule to consider OverPower corrected.
  • Text input fields with HighDPI error replaced.
  • Crashes when creating project report due to access violations.
  • Crash when importing old user-defined load profiles into the consumption database.
  • Crash when displaying east-west polystring systems where only the second MPP tracker was logged.
  • When not planning in Germany, the cash flow table now no longer displays one year more than the assessment period.
  • For heating rods with fixed power levels, certain power levels were not used under certain circumstances.
August 11th 2022PV*SOL 2022 Release 7

The following new features and changes are included:

  • New project report languages Slovenian, Ukrainian, Georgian and Romanian.
  • Verification that the program windows are in the visible area.
  • In the tariff database, the current tariffs are now displayed first by default.
  • Inverter AC currents are now also logged and can be displayed as a characteristic curve.
  • High DPI scaling detection has been improved.
  • Improvement of the validation of PAN files.
  • Grid feed in the first year with degradation is now also persisted.
  • New configuration rules for SolarEdge.
  • Maintenance end is uniquely formatted and can be copied.
  • Improved results of automatic configuration, for jointly interconnected module areas.
  • Formatting of module area data in the project report has been adjusted.
  • Diagram "Coverage of total consumption" for DC batteries has been revised.

The following bugs have been fixed:

  • Crash in the unbalanced load check with "Project New".
  • AC grid voltage is now always rounded to a integer.
  • Simulation:
    • DC charge controller: The power requested by the battery plus the available PV power must not be higher than the maximum inverter power.
    • MPP tracker: If the maximum DC current was exceeded, it could be that the new operating point was far below I_DC,Max due to voltage limits.
    • Heating rod: With stepless control, the correct maximum power was not calculated under certain circumstances.
    • Batterie-System: Seltener Fehler beim Ermitteln der Ladeleistung für Boost/Full/Equal-Ladungen behoben.
  • Crash with overview plans with unfavorable aspect ratios.
  • Crash when loading the project list of the recent used projects.
  • When changing the climate location (country), the feed-in concept was sometimes incorrectly set to "Full feed-in".
  • Error when importing consumption profiles if only one month was loaded, e.g. January.
  • Bugfix for climate locations on the Isle of Man.
  • Bugfix when opening the consumption dialog.
  • Translation corrections (Italian, Czech, Portuguese).
  • Crash at first program start after installation in correlation with virus scanners.
  • Crash if an invalid presentation template was imported.
  • In some rare cases, an operating system language not localized by PV*SOL was incorrectly set as the program language, resulting in many "XXX" texts in the program interface.
  • Error in the automatic SolarEdge configuration.
  • Fixed GUI freeze when creating new climate datasets if PVGIS server is not responding.
  • Correction of PVGIS datasets for southern Brazil with SARAH as source.
  • Corrected climate data name for Kaliakra (Bulgaria).
  • Possible problems at first program start in interaction with virus scanners.
  • Battery system: Rare error when determining the charging power for boost/full/equal charges fixed.
December 16th 2021PV*SOL 2022 Release 3

The following new features and changes are included:

  • The main process is now available in 64bit.
  • New climate data:
    • PVGIS
    • Solcast
    • Meteonorm 8.1
  • Horizon:
    • Import of PVGIS horizon lines.
    • Display of cross-hemisphere sun position lines improved.
  • Import of module files in *.PAN file format.
  • Automatic configuration:
    • Automatic configuration of SolarEdge products now with selection of inverters, Power Optimizers and layout (1x1 or 1x2).
    • Improved results for co-located module areas.
    • Strings are arranged by module area.
    • Revision of the dialog.
  • Presentation:
    • Start of Operation date can be deselected.
    • Own pictures can be added to the presentation.
    • Diagram of the defined demand is now available in the presentation.
    • Any diagrams (time series, carpet plots and characteristic curves) from the diagram editor can be added to the presentation.
    • Better support of international character sets when generating pdf files.
    • Display of power optimizer data sheets.
    • Adjustment of product data sheets.
    • Creation of presentation can be cancelled.
    • New language Bengali.
  • Support of layers in *.dxf export.
  • Database:
    • Sorting by "Selection", "Favorites" and "Suitable" is now possible.
    • In the manufacturer tree view can be navigated by keyboard input.
    • Consistency of the manufacturer selection marker improved.
  • Display of decimal places revised.
  • Module area results extended by irradiation with reflection losses.
  • Dialog for reporting program malfunctions.
  • Warnings about SolarEdge MPP configuration are now also displayed in the system check.
  • Project comparison - header columns are now fixed.
  • Quick access to recently used but not yet opened projects in PV*SOL on the welcome page.
  • Configuration check: Rounding of the maximum current at the MPP tracker.
  • Surplus consumer dialog now has a help button.
  • Current and voltage tolerance in configuration set to 5% by default.
  • For projects with consumption, the electricity production costs now take also into account the maximum feed-in power.
  • Offgrid check: If technically possible, the system can be simulated even if the SMA-specific design rules are not fulfilled.
  • Offgrid systems: load shedding is enabled by default.

The following bugs have been fixed:

  • Projects with electric vehicles from versions prior to PV*SOL 2020.1 could not be loaded if "DC Chademo" charging technology was used.
  • Crashes in the consumption dialogs.
  • Various crashes in the project report.
  • Fix for changing the product type when the node "All companies" is selected in the database dialog.
  • Crash in the characteristic curves if the global radiation was not recorded due to too many module areas.
  • Display of configuration message corrected if minimum MPP voltage is not reached.
  • In the database dialog it is again possible to navigate in the company list by entering the first letters.
  • In some cases, the circuit symbols were doubled in the circuit diagram.
 

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