1Where is the building?
Pick the nearest weather station. The yield comes from its hourly sun and sky.
Try:
Drop your model to see what the roof can yield
kWh per m² and per year on every panel surface, with the neighbours casting the shade.
Rhino .3dm.obj / .fbxIFCNever uploaded — opened in your browser
No model to hand? Open a sample
- 1Pick the location
- 2Load a model or a sample
- 3Run and read the roof
About PV Analysis·Find the roofs and facades where solar panels pay off.
What PV Analysis does
Runs a solar radiation analysis and converts the result into PV system size (kWp), expected annual generation (kWh/year), and specific yield per surface. Use it to decide where to place panels.
- Input:
- .3dm + .epw
- Output:
- kWp · kWh/yr
- Bonus:
- Best-tilt advisor
How it works
The same validated irradiance engine as Solar Radiation, converted into system size and yield. It is a siting and screening tool — it answers which surfaces are worth panelling and roughly what they return, not what a financier will underwrite.
- Incident radiation per surface from the Solar Radiation engine: EPW hourly data with your geometry casting the shade, checked against Radiance.
- Usable area from the marked panel layers, then module power density gives kWp.
- Annual generation from the hourly incident series with a system performance ratio for losses.
How to use it
- Load EPW + model. Climate file plus a .3dm of the building and context.
- Mark panel layers. Tell the tool which surfaces will carry PV panels.
- Pick a period. Annual for yearly yield. Seasonal for special studies.
- Run the simulation. Output is radiation by surface plus system size + generation.
- Try the optimisation advisor. Auto-find the tilt/azimuth that maximises annual yield.
Best used for
- Deciding which roofs and facades are worth panelling at all.
- Comparing specific yield between orientations on the same building.
- An early feasibility number for a brief or a planning statement.
- Showing a client why the south facade earns its cladding budget and the north does not.
Not a substitute for
- A bankable yield assessment or an investment decision.
- Grid-connection or inverter sizing.
- Replacing a specialist PV consultant's report.
Known limits
- Losses are a single system performance ratio, not a modelled inverter, cable and temperature chain — real systems vary either side of it.
- Module temperature derating is not modelled, so hot climates read optimistic.
- No string layout, no mismatch losses, no shading-per-module behaviour: one shaded module can cost far more than its share of area.
- Soiling, snow and degradation over life are not included.
- Typical-year weather, so a specific year will differ.