Solar Calculators

[solarmike]

Hi All

I recently came across the new Google Sunroof project which looks impressive https://sunroof.withgoogle.com/

So I had a quick look around to see if there are any others and stumbled on this one which only covers Dubai but has impressive functionality. https://www.dewa.gov.ae/SolarCalculator/index.html

I'm planning to gather a whole load of these free software calculators to write a blog about the best, so if anybody knows of any others which aren't connected to a commercial firm I'd love to see them. Especially those built by governments or universities etc.

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

I use PVwatts - https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/pvwatts.php - for estimating PV array kwhs by location + past weather. Type in city, state, country for you're location and array size etc - pretty accurate info. I use this to show differences from 30deg to 90deg etc for panel placement planning.

I use SunCalc - https://www.suncalc.org/ - for detailed (time, angles, ...) sun traverse at my specific home, just drill down to streel level to find you're exact location. This has full sun angle so I can tell when my neighbor's pool structure will shadow my array - e.g. it's when the sun is 27deg.

And I use TimeandDate - https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/usa/medford - for a quick sun intensity check (this link = Medford OR) at current time of day.

 

[solarmike]

Thanks, I love the suncalc tool. And the timeanddate tool is global too, perfect for us over here in the UK.

 

[cak]

I use PVwatts

This is the one I use and is industry standard since it was the primary one taught in all my solar site assessment trainings.