Over the past five years, solar power evolved from a technology for early adopters to a mainstream technology that everyday consumers can now buy for their homes and offices. Solar designers can now use a wide range of digital tools and software to give customers a better vision of how they will be designed and what they can do with it. These tips can help you choose the right solar design software for your company.
Satellite imaging can provide useful information
In order to calculate photovoltaic system performance, energy production modeling, and shading analysis, you need software that allows you to access accurate satellite imagery and geographic information. Based on how the system is set up, you can predict how the sun and natural geological features of an area will affect the power generated by a solar panel.
Additionally, an average weather pattern and the time of year can affect a system, so if you want to ensure your designs will hold up regardless of seasons or weather conditions, you need to be able to obtain data from throughout the year.
Simulation capabilities that are fast and accurate
The performance capability and accuracy of solar design software are important elements to consider. You want it to be thorough so that every possible factor is considered when designing solar energy systems for your customers. According to solar power experts, before you start work on an actual installation, you need to understand what expectations the owners have.
This will allow you to meet those expectations. In order to send a proposal, they’ll need information about the costs, energy production, and power consumption of their system. Therefore, any software you choose to use must be reliable and fast.
Integrating Other Software
If you get solar design software, make sure it integrates with other solar software, like financial and energy management programs. The updated information allows you to notify the different departments faster so their information is not hindered by confusion and gives accurate information to clients.
It is a complicated endeavor to build a solar power system, so even the slightest mistake can ruin a project. Make sure you purchase software that can be used together with others to ensure that your proposals are accurate and your installations are successful.
Software updates: How often should they be performed?
If the developer stops supporting the software, you don’t want to purchase it. It is usually more beneficial to update software frequently than to update it infrequently. Keeping up with patches and new technology is essential if you want your programs to run at their best. Fortunately, solar design technology is constantly improving, enabling your proposals to be more accurate and detailed for your customers.
What’s the price?
You may be limited in which solar design software you can choose based on your budget. While midrange solar design software offers many of the tools needed to design solar power systems, it lacks many of the extra features and customization abilities found in more expensive products.
You can find free solar design software out there, but these are not nearly as dependable as the paid versions. When it comes to solar projects, investing in the best solar design software is a wise decision, especially since so much about them starts with the design process.
To make the most of your solar design software, you need to choose the best one for you. How to find the right one? Here are some tips.
