United States-headquartered PVFarm has added new features to its single-axis tracker (SAT) and fixed tilt (FT) configurators to align with customer demand and large-scale projects trends, also providing more support for terrain-conforming designs.
“The improved SAT configurator streamlines the engineering and customization of tracker layouts, incorporating terrain-following capabilities and wind load analysis,” Maksim Markevich, CTO of PVFarm, told pv magazine.
It supports site-specific tracker component modifications, including optimal placement around motors, flexible pile configurations, and deliverables such as a slope-adjusted pile point plan.
The fixed-tilt configurator now includes terrain-following capabilities, making it easier to adapt designs to sloped or uneven ground and set pile adjustments with minimal manual adjustments, according to the company.
“You can reuse previous configurations, toggle between simplified and detailed views, and make more informed decisions without slowing down. Risk is really just anticipation of what’s going to happen, and we’re giving you the tools to get a better guess when it matters,” Markevich said.
Other newer features include full low voltage wiring support and a new 2D ruler for “quick, basic measurements, to check spacing” and layout dimensions.
Additional support for pile binning, along with 3D annotation maps and CSV/DXF file integration, enables more accurate modeling of real-world site conditions, which brings designs “closer to procurement-ready specifications,” according to Markevich.
Road-aware and substation-aware layouts are supported. Users can reportedly import custom elevation and terrain data from computer aided design software tools, such as AutoCAD and Civil3d. Data export to PVSyst is also supported.
According to Markevich, the built-in levelised cost of energy (LCOE) calculator now includes a “more fractional cost model,” that provides the level of detail needed to “accurately estimate costs for terrain-following trackers, among other design scenarios.”
In addition, reporting tools provide detailed bill of quality (BoQ) and bill of material (BoM) reports.
Founded in 2021, PVFarm provides web-based software for early-stage PV project planning. It supports project team members, including plant electrical, mechanical, civil, energy, and procurement team members, with real-time energy models and building information model (BIM) functions.
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