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

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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.

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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 | Technical Sales Engineer, PVFARM

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.

Moderators

Mark Hutchins | Magazine Director, pv magazine

Mark Hutchins joined pv magazine as production editor for our monthly global title in September 2016. He also reports on upstream technology and markets, and new and emerging solar regions for both print and online. Mark has experience in copywriting, music journalism and the fast-paced world of startups.

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