PV Designer Software

PV Design

PV Designer Software

Access is free by downloading the latest SunEye software.

Download the data sheet (pdf).


Watch the Video

Now included with SunEye purchase

PV Designer software is ideal for residential and small commercial systems. It enables you to quickly and easily: draw a roof outline, specify set-backs and keep-out regions, incorporate SunEye shade measurements at specific locations on the roof, drag-and-drop modules, size strings, check inverter limits, and calculate the AC energy production for your system.

It includes extensive world-wide databases of modules, inverters, and historical weather. You can easily try different design scenarios and compare their AC kW-hr outputs side-by-side to identify the best design.

Results can be exported in a PDF format and printed or emailed to clients.

More information can be found in the data sheet here. You can also watch the series of training videos part one, part two, and part three. Part four highlights the latest features available in revision 4.50 and later, including arbitrary roof shapes and obstruction "no module zones".

Who can benefit from PV Designer?
PV Designer is the design tool of choice for designing systems of around 15 kW or less, however larger systems up to 100kW can also be designed in PV Designer. The software is easy to learn and easy to use, yet enables detailed analysis traditionally only available in complicated engineering tools.

Do I need a SunEye to use PV Designer?
You can certainly use PV Designer without shade measurements. However, one of the key benefits of PV Designer is the ability to easily incorporate shade effects in your system design. In order to obtain the necessary shading data, you’ll want and need a Solmetric SunEye shade analysis tool. If you don’t already own one, find out more here.

  • Define arbitrary (rectangular or non-rectangular) roof shapes
  • Specify PV module and Inverter from integrated database
  • Lay out modules on roof plane
  • Designate strings
  • Define set-backs and keep-out regions such as skylights
  • Locate SunEye shade readings from SunEye 110 or 210
  • Determine energy calculations accounting for partial shading
  • View results in monthly or annual kWh
  • Output pdf report or csv file for hourly time-of-use analysis
  • (Optional) updates to new versions and databases

How do I try PV Designer?
Download the SunEye Desktop Software from the Software Downloads page.

How do I access PV Designer?
The PV Designer software is a module within the Solmetric SunEye's Desktop Software. PV Designer is accessed through the Desktop Software. To operate, the PV Designer requires a SunEye session to be loaded and active.

Minimum system requirements:
• Operating System: Windows XP SP2 or later (Professional, Home, or Media Center), Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8
• Processor Speed: 1 GHz minimum
• RAM: 1 GByte minimum, 2 GByte recommended
• Available Disc Space: 200 MB or more.
• MS Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher.
• Display resolution: 1280x1024 or greater. The software will function with lower resolution, such as 1024x800, although there may be some steps required to see all design information.
Systems that do not meet these requirements may not operate correctly.