With the Module Shading Optimization tool, you can easily estimate the shade losses in a design and remove modules that are too heavily shaded. Navigate to Advanced > Shading, and clickCalculate Shading. Then, move the slider to add or remove modules based on their available irradiance.
Shading is calculated by sampling a portion of the year, specifically every hour of the 15th day of each month, for a total of 12 days a year. This will not align exactly with the Shade Report as that report samples every hour for an entire year.
Modules are color-coded to reflect shading levels, with red representing greater shading and blue indicating less shading. This is further visualized with a gradient to display the change in irradiance availability across the system. Here are some of the options for this tool:
Weather Datasets: This pulls the data from a certain weather file by default, choosing the closest weather file to the site. This dataset might not be the same one being used in the Production Report, which is defined by the weather dataset selected in the Condition Set. To modify the weather dataset selected by default in the Module Shading Optimization, click the drop-down menu and select a different weather dataset.
Ignore row-to-row shading: If modeling with fixed tilt or similar racking, check this box to analyze obstruction-based shading only.
Module Shading Cutoff: Scans each module in the design and generates a percentage value for the module with the highest shade loss. Adjusting this percentage will adjust the threshold for module removal, ensuring only modules with sufficient irradiance remain in the design.
Show Monthly Values: This displays a monthly breakdown of the POA, shaded POA, and solar access percentage for the entire design. It will be updated as you adjust the Module Shading Cutoff.
Note: This tool will not function for designs without modules or systems with nameplates exceeding 15MW. More details on design limits can be found here.