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Smart solar panel installation with a GIS toolkit
A sustainable energy company builds a GIS toolkit to inform the most efficient design and placement of solar panels.
Project name SOLARIS
SolarPlus is a solar panel company that designs, manufactures, and installs solar modules and provides PV solutions. To take all the guesswork out of the solar panel installation process, the company needed a GIS toolkit that would obtain maximum power generation with minimum equipment costs, while complying with international and state standards.
Country:
Australia
Industry:
Sustainable energy
Project status:
Completed
Team size:
2 people
Back end:
MySQL
Yii
Nginx
PHP
Front end:
Vue.js
MapboxGL
Other:
Google Maps
Nearmap
Metromap
The challenge
Saving costs with maximum
solar power efficiency
A solar photovoltaic (PV) system is a spatially organized energy installation equipment that ensures the conversion, metering, and accumulation of electricity generated by the panels and its supply to the end consumer.
There are many PV options in the market nowadays, each having its own panel-inverter combination and the value of generated energy. SolarPlus needed a universal tool that would automatically design solar PV considering the customers’ needs and the technological nuances of the equipment installation. The software had to immediately calculate the cost of equipment configuration and visualize the final product on the clients’ facilities.
Objectives and tasks:
1
Obtain maximum power generation with minimum costs of installation
2
Find the optimal installation option for each individual use case
3
Comply with the recognized international and national standards
Solution
GIS software for residential and commercial solar power plants
Mappitall delivered a GIS tool allowing to quickly select the optimal design, combination, and placement of equipment, calculating the final cost of the project and visualizing the project for the consumer. The tool can apply to both industrial and domestic solar PVs and help install panels on the roofs of houses and on the ground.
Using OpenStreetMap as a cartographic basis for the project, a GIS tool uses both images from online sources (Google Maps, NearMaps, Metromaps, etc.) and the ones provided by SolarPlus (UAV surveys, architecture plans, etc.). Solar panels are mapped onto the given area for the user to see what the installation will look like in reality. The preview function provides a 3D image of the area and a wide array of options for solar panel design.
End result with panel display palette.
Results at a glance
Solar installation workflow made easier
Eventually, Solaris GIS spatial analysis and graphic design toolkit allows to:
Create photovoltaic systems for both existing and planned buildings
Select the optimal number of photovoltaic modules, taking into account the load on the power system
Choose the best arrangement of panels in terms of visual appeal and technological features of the structure
Find the most illuminated areas of the roof with the help of precise geographic referencing that considers the exposure and angle of inclination of the roof
Choose the optimal layout of equipment, taking into account the angle of inclination of solar panels
Calculate the cost for various schemes of PV installation