Rooftop Solar Planner
Roof outline
Pick a shape and give its size. Choose Custom walls for any other outline and build it wall by wall below.
Roof areas
A roof can have more than one area, like the rooms of the Floor Plan Tool. Area A starts at the origin. Another area starts at the origin or at a corner (P1, P2…) of an earlier area, plus an offset. Pick the area to edit its walls below.
Roof walls and corners
Go round the roof wall by wall: length, direction (X east, Y north), angle, straight or arc. The walls must close on the start.
Pick a corner (P1, P2… on the plan). Chamfer: distance cut back along each wall. Curve: radius of the round corner. Not next to an arc wall.
Obstructions
List what casts shade or cannot carry panels. Panels keep the clearance below away from each; you can also drag them on the plan.
Panels on the roof
Place panels one at a time, or auto-fill the roof.
Design check
Compares what is placed with what you asked for. These are warnings only: you can carry on and decide for yourself.
Sun and shadow study
The sun's position for the chosen day and time, with shadows cast by panels and obstructions onto the roof. Drag the time slider or press Play to watch the shadows move.
Structure section
Two cuts. A–A goes across the rows and shows every row, the walkways and the tilt, with the parapet at both ends. B–B (press Flip direction) goes along one row and shows the width of each panel, the gaps, the legs and the length of the rails. Obstructions behind the cut are drawn faintly. Move the cut to see another part of the roof.
Layout drawing
Obstruction schedule
Dimension plan
What an installer needs to set out each row: the distance from the parapet or the nearest obstruction to every row and column, the width of each row, the gap between panels and the walkway between rows. Gold figures are walkways.
Installation drawing
The whole mounting arrangement in section: every row with its tilt, front and back leg heights, the top level of the panels, the parapet, the distances along the section and the mounting schedule, for the installer to work from.
Single line diagram
How the system is connected, for the application and the installer: the PV array and its strings, the DC distribution box with string fuses, isolator and SPD, the inverter, the AC distribution box with MCB, isolator and SPD, the existing main board, the net meter and the DISCOM supply, the lightning arrester and the earth pits. Ratings follow from your design and the Database.
True north plan
The roof turned to its real position: north is up, and the building sits at the orientation you entered, with the title block. It shows the direction the panels face and the sunrise and sunset directions on 21 June and 21 December.
CAD drawing
AutoCAD DXF (R12), drawn 1:1 in the project unit with the base point applied. The roof outline is one closed polyline with arc walls and curved corners as true arcs; panels, obstructions and dimensions sit on their own layers.
Roof walls
One line per wall, from start point to end point, plus one for each chamfer or curve. Arc walls give their radius, arc length and centre; Length stays the chord.
Roof corners
Every corner as entered (P1, P2...) and, where a corner is chamfered or curved, the two points where the cut starts and ends.
Panel positions
Numbered from the front (low) row to the back, left to right. Centre, the four corners, heights of the low and high edge, and whether the panel fits and is clear of winter shade.
Bill of materials
From the panels placed on the plan. Steel includes 5% cutting allowance, rounded to 6 m stock lengths.
Project properties
Your projects
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Project data
Your project is kept in this browser. To move it to another device or keep a copy, copy the project data and paste it back later.