Holistic design: Ending the relay race in utility-scale PV projects

About this webinar

Realizing a solar project of any size is a major undertaking requiring a wide variety of expertise. A “relay race” approach, passing a project between different teams, can result in hidden costs and missed opportunities – even where each team has the made the best decision it could. In this pv magazine Webinar, we see how an eye on the bigger picture can ensure that an optimization in one department doesn’t create a catastrophe in another.

Holistic design: Ending the relay race in utility-scale PV projects

  • Webinar
  • Webinar
  • 06 May 2026 | Europe/Berlin
    (Your local time)
  • English
All Presentations

Well before construction is even thought of, a PV project requires highly skilled work in many different areas: Civil, structural, electrical – and that’s just the engineers. Plans are routinely passed between different teams and even different companies as a project moves forward.

In many cases, these teams carry out their work separately. This webinar will focus on projects where the isolated excellence of these teams has led to systemic failure later on, which could have been avoided with an earlier look at the project’s big picture.

Dhruv Shah, technical sales engineer at software provider PVFARM, will demonstrate the problems that can arise when teams work in silos. Real-world examples to be discussed include a civil grading plan that required impossible pile heights, and land use optimization that failed to properly consider trenching and cabling costs.

We’ll see a demonstration of PVFARM’s project design software, which uses parameter iterations and physics-based modeling to expose the trade-offs between civil, structural, and electrical designs. By utilizing visual cost maps, the software drives rapid LCOE optimization in minutes rather than weeks.

Shah will be on hand to discuss how this feeds into a “Holistic Design” approach, and the advantages that come with looking at the big picture and evaluating trade-offs across disciplines, simultaneously rather than sequentially.

Webinar content:

  • The problem with “relay race” workflows
  • Breaking the silo – creating a holistic design environment
  • Software demonstration
  • Q&A

Questions can be submitted beforehand in the comments window when registering or in the chat during the live webinar.

The webinar will be moderated by Mark Hutchins, magazine director at pv magazine.

Registration for this webinar is free of charge.

Speakers

Dhruv Shah
PVFARM
Technical Sales Engineer
Read Bio
Dhruv Shah
PVFARM
Technical Sales Engineer

Dhruv Shah joined PVFARM in January 2026, bringing 3+ years of industry experience as a PV & BESS Project Engineer. Having assisted in the construction of multiple PV & BESS projects, Dhruv understands the critical gap between early-stage design and field execution. As part of the Business Development team at PVFARM, he helps customers leverage the platform to make faster, engineering-grade decisions that ensure their projects are genuinely buildable.

Moderator

Mark Hutchins pv magazine Magazine Director
Mark Hutchins
Magazine Director
Read Bio
Mark Hutchins pv magazine Magazine Director
Mark Hutchins
Magazine Director

Mark Hutchins is Magazine Director. He joined pv magazine in September 2016 as production editor of the monthly global title. Mark also works online reporting on upstream technology and markets, as well as newly emerging solar regions.

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