Multi site project model with named designs
A project is a multi site container (schemaVersion 2 DesignPayload) with one or more Sites, each carrying its own SystemConfiguration scoped to its own map placement. The Project Picker opens, saves, duplicates, and deletes named designs, with the schema version, the site count, and the last saved time visible per design. The active site is selected in the project tree on the Map tab and the inspector works against that site, so a single project can carry a hub and spoke or multi site rollout.
Interactive site selection and NASA POWER climatology
Pick a site on a Leaflet map with click placement, coordinate entry, Nominatim address search, and recent location history. The resilient weather service queries the NASA POWER temporal climatology point endpoint for monthly ALLSKY_SFC_SW_DWN, CLRSKY_SFC_SW_DWN, T2M, T2M_MIN, and T2M_MAX. A browser cache retries on failure, a bundled fallback climatology dataset covers offline use, and every result is tagged as Live, Cached, or Fallback so the engineer always knows where the input data came from.
Equipment load profiling with diversity and power factor
Build the site load from an equipment library (radios, BTS, microwave, routers, HVAC, lighting, monitoring) or add custom entries. Each item carries nominal and surge power, quantity, duty cycle, and power factor. The load engine resolves real versus apparent power (kW and kVA), applies diversity and duty cycle factors, and produces a 24 hour load profile plus peak, average, and daily energy figures that feed solar sizing, the battery bank, the inverter, the cable schedule, and the 8760 hour dispatch.
Solar array sizing, string configuration, and POA transposition
Size the PV array against the daily energy demand using a panel library (Jinko, LONGi, Canadian Solar, and others) with per panel Voc, Vmp, Isc, Imp, temperature coefficients, and NOCT. Auto tilt from latitude and auto azimuth from hemisphere are the defaults with manual override. The solar module validates string series and parallel configuration against the inverter MPPT voltage and current windows, applies a documented loss stack (soiling, mismatch, wiring, inverter, temperature), and runs a Hay Davies style POA transposition for the tilted plane irradiance. Monthly and annual energy yield, capacity factor, and the Inverter Load Ratio are reported.
Battery bank sizing, SoC management, and ageing
Size the battery bank for autonomy days, depth of discharge target, round trip efficiency, and a minimum state of charge floor. Supports lithium iron phosphate (LFP), nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), and VRLA chemistries from the library with per cell voltage, Ah, Peukert coefficient, and temperature derating. The bank simulation tracks SoC across the TMY year, reports charge time predictions, and estimates lifetime via a hybrid model: Arrhenius calendar ageing driven by the site T2M_MIN and T2M_MAX extremes plus rainflow cycle counting on the simulated SoC trace from the 8760 dispatch.
Modular inverter, rectifier, and solar controller configuration
Configure Eltek style modular inverter and rectifier systems from a built in chassis and module database. The inverter service picks module counts for N and N+1 redundancy against the peak and continuous load, validates the DC bus voltage against the battery bank, and pairs the system with compatible MPPT solar controllers. Output includes the full part numbers, the module counts, the input and output ratings, and the redundancy headroom, so an off the shelf bill of materials drops out at the end.
Backup genset selection and dispatch
Add a backup diesel generator for hybrid designs from the built in genset database. The dispatch logic runs the generator on top of the solar and battery system to cover unmet load hours, with configurable start triggers (low SoC), stop triggers (SoC recovered, time of day), and a minimum run time. The dispatch is included in the 8760 hour simulation and the fuel burn rolls up into the financial analysis and the diesel only baseline comparison.
Per circuit electrical design to AS/NZS 3000 and 3008.1.1
The circuit calculation service generates the full electrical schedule. For every circuit it sizes the cable against AS/NZS 3008.1.1 ampacity tables (copper, 75 degree C column, conduit on wall Method 3), verifies voltage drop to AS/NZS 3000 (typically 5 percent total), selects the protection device (MCB or MCCB) per IEC 60898 and IEC 60947-2, picks a surge protective device per IEC 61643-11, and surfaces the earthing and grounding targets. Each row reports cable size (mm squared), length, current, voltage drop, available fault level, device rating, and a pass or fail flag, culminating in the Electrical Bill of Materials.
Fault current, arc flash, lightning risk, and AS/NZS compliance
Dedicated analysis sections compute the prospective short circuit fault current at each bus, an IEEE 1584 style arc flash incident energy estimate with working distance and PPE category, and a lightning risk score from site geography and exposure. Three compliance modules score the design against AS/NZS 4509 (standalone power systems), AS/NZS 4777 (grid connect inverters), and AS/NZS 5139 (battery installation), each returning a structured pass, warning, or fail list with clause references.
8760 hour dispatch, economics, and PDF export
The dispatch simulation runs the full system across an 8760 hour TMY year in a dedicated Web Worker so the main thread stays responsive: hourly solar production, hourly load, battery charge and discharge with SoC bounds and efficiency, and any generator runtime. The financial module returns the Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) in dollars per kWh, the Net Present Value (NPV), simple and discounted payback, and a diesel only baseline comparison for LCOE and CO2. Everything is autosaved and exports as a print optimised engineering PDF.
