1.9.Design of renewable energy systems for small (local) consumers - description of a software for design and examples of design exercises.

1.9.1.Introduction.

A short note of a software tools being used for design renewable energy systems is presented in this chapter. One of the advanced and powerful applications – POLYSUN of Vela Solaris (Switzerland) is described in details. Documents such as „POLYSUN Simulation Software – HELP” and „POLYSUN Simulation Software-USER MANUAL”, included within application package, were used during writing this chapter. The author’s own experience gained during giving lectures „Solar Energy”, „Alternative source of energy” was used also. The material presented here is dedicated to the students starting with design solar energy systems on the POLYSUN platform.

1.9.2.A software for design renewable energy systems.

To design optimal and economic construction of solar system is not an easy task. The inclusion of multiple parameters of many elements of the solar system requires the use of complex algorithms. Therefore, there are a number of applications that help engineers in designing, simulating and analyzing more or less complex renewable energy systems. Due to the complexity of the applications we divide them into calculators, spreadsheets and complex engineering applications such as CAD. Solar calculators are software tools for the calculation of basic characteristics of a system based on a simple algorithm. They are the domain of companies producing solar panels and PV modules as well as the companies selling and installing specially prepared solar kits. Using the calculator, the client can get an idea of ​​how much profit a system will bring, what will be its cost etc. Solar calculators are usually created as the applications running on the website of the manufacturer. There are a number of such applications created for smartphones and tablets for Android and iOS systems.

One of many online calculators of solar collector system offers a Panasonic Solar company: http://eu-solar.panasonic.net/en/service/solar-calculator/. In few steps a user can get information about a yield of the solar system possible to be installed on the roof of his house.

Fig. 1.9.1 The view of Online solar calculator.

Software for solar collector systems:

Online Solar Calculator: http://eu-solar.panasonic.net/en/service/solar-calculator/

FreeHotWater: http://www.freehotwater.com/solar-calculators/

Viessman solar calculator (in Polish): http://www.kotly.pl/doborkolektora/kolektor.swf

Software for photovoltaic systems design:

Much more software for photovoltaic systems is possible to find in internet.

A short description of many applications used for design of photovoltaic systems can be find on the web page: http://photovoltaic-software.com/professional.php .

The list of such software and link to software is presented in the table below:

Title	URL
PV Watts	http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/calculators/pvwatts/version1/
Solar design tool	http://get.solardesigntool.com/
Solar Panels UK	http://www.solarpanelsuk.co.uk/solar-pv-calculator.php
DDS-CAD	http://www.dds-cad.pl/
Archelios PRO	http://archelios.com
PV-Design-PRO	http://www.mauisolarsoftware.com/
INSEL	http://www.insel.eu/
PV Designer Solmetric	http://www.solmetric.com
PV F-CHART	http://www.fchart.com
PVOptimize	http://www.pvoptimize.com
Kerychip	http://kerychip.dk/silicium/viewpage.php?page_id=18
PVscout 2.0 Premium	http://www.solarschmiede.de/en/software/pvscout-20-premium
PV*SOL (GE)	http://www.valentin.de/en
PVSYST	http://www.pvsyst.com
PLAN4SOLAR PV	http://www.gascad.at/index.php/en/produkte/photovoltaik
SOLAR PRO	http://www.lapsys.co.jp/english/products/pro.html
SOLERGO (IT) & Ampere	http://www.electrographics.it/eng/soluzioni-progettazione-fotovoltaica.htm
PVGIS Estimation Utility	http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps4/pvest.php
Energy Saving Trust - Solar Energy Calculator	http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy/Solar-panels-PV/Solar-Energy-Calculator
SMA Sunny Design	http://www.sma.de/en/products/software/sunny-design.html
In Balance Energy - Solar PV System Sizing & Yield Calculator	http://www.inbalance-energy.co.uk/articles/solar_panels_pv_calculator.html

As we can see an applications are rather specific only for design a systems of one type i.e. solar collector, photovoltaic or heat pump. There is an application integrating many kinds of renewable energy systems into one platform. This is POLYSUN Vela Solaris simulation software. To try possibilities of POLYSUN a user can test an online version of software: http://www.polysunonline.com/PsoPublic/app/home/access. It is limited to the possible locations and system diagrams. Report of analysis is send via email.

Commercial version of the POLYSUN has no limits mentioned above.