New tool for PV plant design on terrains with complex orography

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From pv magazine Spain

Spain-based Sener has launched the Oruga software, a new tool for solar power plant design on terrains with complex orography.

“Oruga is the most advanced tool on the market for designing the most profitable photovoltaic plant on a given piece of land,” said Arturo Basurto, innovation manager at Sener. “It is capable of accurately calculating both the power production and the cost of the thousands of possible installations within a plot, selecting the most profitable configuration or providing the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE), thanks to two advanced algorithms for optimization of civil works and 3D backtracking.”

According to Sener, the Oruga software has two differentiating characteristics: the ability to accurately calculate groundworks, associated with each of the possible implementations within the plot; and the 3D backtracking algorithm allows the trackers to be positioned at the optimal angle to maximize electricity production, minimizing shadows between panels throughout the day.

In addition, the software is said to be able to analyze different combinations of panels, trackers or tables, inverters and batteries, as well as construction costs, depending on the market situation at any given time and customer preferences.

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Moreover, the new tool is equipped with a catalog of components and their associated prices updated to the market. It offers, through a graphic interface, the possibility of migrating to a building information model (BIM) environment for 7D control of the project, which represents the state of the art in the digitization of energy asset management, the company said.

Ainhoa Arribas, software developer and civil engineer at Sener, explained that even with an increase in profitability of only 1% the investment in the software would be fully repaid.

Oruga is entirely developed by the company's digital solutions team and has received funding from the Basque government through the Hazitek 2020 business R&D support program.

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