Documentation
Planner documentation
Move from an initial opportunity to a reviewed project design. Follow the guides for plant sizing, land discovery, Pre-bid assessment and Project Optimisation.
Planner overviewSearch across setup, workflows and engineering guides.
Choose where to start
- I have a site
Start with Pre-bid to assess the proposed plant, connection choices and evidence gaps.
- I need land
Start with Land finder to search a grid area and refine a candidate boundary.
- I have a delivery requirement
Start with regional Plant sizing to estimate capacity, storage and land before choosing a site.
Regional availability: This guide covers the India workflow. Australia supports regional sizing and adapted land and Pre-bid screening; full Project Optimisation is not enabled there. Philippines support is limited to setup and saved project context.
Projects → Supply requirements
1. Set up the project and supply requirement
Create a shared basis for the site's inputs, studies, decisions and reports.
- Select your organisation, then create or open a project. Record its name, country, location, client and brief.
- If the project has a supply obligation, save a round-the-clock, peak, demand-following or custom requirement. Set delivery power, time windows, calendar, timezone and interval resolution.
- Review energy and interval-matching targets, technology shares, capacity limits and minimum storage. Add energy and shortfall prices, allowances and settlement assumptions where applicable.
- Record the land, connection, equipment and commercial evidence needed for the decision. Save the requirement before running a dependent study.
What you take forward
A saved project and, where required, a supply brief that subsequent studies can use.
Use compatible input intervals. A five-minute requirement needs compatible five-minute evidence; missing intervals are not automatically supplied. Administrators manage access, planners edit and run studies, and viewers inspect results within their permissions.
Expert tools → Plant sizing
2. Estimate a plant before choosing land
Use regional resources to estimate the scale of solar, wind, batteries and land needed for the supply brief.
- Select a region using mapped substations, coordinates or a boundary, and check the saved supply requirement.
- Choose solar, wind or a hybrid mix. Review the resource basis, storage, losses, land and equipment-cost assumptions.
- Run the estimate and compare solar MW AC/MWp, wind MW, battery MW/MWh, land breakdown and equipment investment across the evaluated alternatives.
- Retain the estimate and continue to Land finder or Pre-bid setup with its assumptions.
What you take forward
A regional capacity and land estimate to guide site discovery.
This is an annual-resource screening estimate with simplified production and storage assumptions. Its least-cost mix is the lowest equipment investment among the alternatives evaluated. Hourly delivery is tested later in Capacity & delivery, using site-specific time series.
Expert tools → Land finder
3. Find and investigate land
Build a shortlist around preferred grid infrastructure, then refine a candidate boundary.
- For an India search, select one to five mapped substations at 66 kV or above and a radius from 5 to 25 km. Optionally constrain the search with an area-of-interest boundary.
- Enter capacity and land assumptions directly or use a saved sizing or design handover. Run the search and compare zone area, distance, suitability, evidence coverage and readiness.
- Investigate terrain, soils, access, neighbours, construction, water and climate, seasonal imagery, regulations and source evidence.
- Refine the boundary and review exclusions. Test indicative PV rows, road and pad allowances, and capacity fit. Save the comparison with explicit energy, connection, cost and delay assumptions.
- Carry the reviewed candidate into Pre-bid. Record missing title, access, survey and environmental evidence as follow-up work.
What you take forward
A candidate boundary with supporting evidence and visible gaps.
Suitability scores do not establish legal availability. The separate India land catalogue contains source-linked parks and dated offers; verify current availability, ownership and access before relying on a lead.
Pre-bid analyser → Setup & run
4. Run the Pre-bid assessment
Assess a proposed plant at a known site, including a site carried forward from Land finder.
- Enter the location, proposed solar, wind and battery capacities, and commercial operation date. Review equipment, mounting, orientation, DC/AC ratio, ground coverage and losses.
- Acquire available historical weather or import reviewed weather and generation files. Licensed Solargis exports can be imported; the data licence is separate. Check equipment parameters and retain the selected revision.
- Run the guided assessment. Review resource and generation, usable land, terrain, soil, flood and climate, tenure documents, statutory findings, connection choices, route costs and export constraints.
- Where needed, compare two to four plant concepts on the same saved site and weather basis, or up to three sites using compatible saved assessments.
- Review first-year economics, assign evidence tasks with owners and due dates, and record a shortlist, hold or reject decision with its rationale.
- Download the Pre-feasibility memo and Proposed-plant assessment PDFs. Continue a shortlisted assessment into Project Optimisation.
What you take forward
A saved assessment, decision and two-report Pre-bid package.
Check production and grid export separately, and review missing cost inputs before using surplus or payback. These economics are first-year and pre-tax. Closing an evidence task does not rerun the model: update the inputs and rerun affected studies when evidence changes.
Project Optimisation → Plant optimisation → Capacity & delivery
5. Size the project for delivery
Compare plant capacity and dispatch against time-series supply requirements and site constraints.
- Confirm the retained site, complete resource year, usable land, selected connection and cost assumptions.
- Choose whether to optimise the whole plant or retain generation capacity and size storage. Review technology bounds, delivery windows, energy and interval-matching rules, and shortfall treatment.
- Run the study. Compare solar and wind capacity, battery power and energy, annual and monthly delivery, shortfalls, curtailment, state of charge and cycling.
- Review land fit, investment, operating costs and financial outcomes. Inspect stress cases and failed or unavailable checks before retaining a case.
- Use explicit alternatives when the target does not fit the constraints. Weighted risk scenarios support comparison; the expert portfolio workflow combines two to five sites with explicit profiles and aggregation assumptions.
What you take forward
A retained capacity case with its delivery results, constraints and scenario assumptions.
Base dispatch assumes perfect knowledge of the modelled year. Use stress cases and offline operation replay to assess less favourable conditions and more realistic operating assumptions. Portfolio studies need an explicit commercial and connection basis for aggregation.
Project Optimisation → Plant optimisation → PV design search
6. Compare physical PV designs
Compare equipment and geometry choices for the selected site's physical design.
- Select module and inverter pairs, fixed or tracker mounting, and ranges for row pitch, DC/AC ratio and string length.
- Supply usable land, terrain and grading assumptions, and required prices.
- Review electrical compatibility, whole-equipment quantities, row fit, energy, export, cost and rejection reasons across the evaluated combinations.
- Apply the selected design through the workspace, retain its equipment and geometry basis, and refresh related studies where needed.
What you take forward
An applied PV configuration with equipment, geometry and source context retained.
The search evaluates a bounded set of combinations. Its preferred design is preferred within that set; review the ranges and inputs before treating it as the best option for the project.
Project Optimisation → Engineering workspaces
7. Develop the engineering evidence
Prepare the studies relevant to the site and the decision you are making. Expand the disciplines below for their scope.
- Confirm the boundary, survey or terrain basis, coordinate system, datum, equipment and source dates before starting a study.
- Supply each study's required field evidence, network geometry, rainfall, loads, rates or operating assumptions. Inspect missing inputs and source coverage.
- Compare alternatives, calculation records, quantities and open issues. Retain the review decision and apply changes through the relevant handover step.
- Refresh dependent sizing or design studies after changes to land, connection, equipment or lifecycle costs.
Terrain, CAD & earthworks
- Explore elevation, slope, contours and 3D terrain. Import survey GeoTIFF, DXF or LandXML with explicit coordinates and datum; DWG conversion depends on the server configuration.
- Compare existing and proposed surfaces, cut/fill, material reuse and haul assumptions. Review fixed-PV layout, grading and tracker constraints.
- Export layout drawings, geometry and schedules. Source coverage and survey quality determine the maturity of engineering quantities.
Soil & foundation planning
- Inspect mapped soil properties by depth and add located field observations with units and references.
- Compare bearing and pile compression/uplift assumptions, groundwater, tested depths and service-load cases.
- Review governing utilisation and calculation scope. These reference models support planning and do not cover every foundation type or failure mode.
Water, drainage & climate
- Review rainfall, flood, water and climate evidence. Enter or import a reviewed rainfall basis for drainage studies.
- Develop channels, pipes, culverts, junctions, storage and outfalls. Inspect flow, levels, freeboard, flooding and drawdown.
- Compare detention and sizing options under rainfall, blockage and tailwater scenarios, then retain the design brief, calculation records and exports.
Electrical design
- Review strings and inverters, cables, voltage drop, losses, reactive compensation, substation duties, short circuit and earthing.
- Explore 17 study/report categories, including grid-support readiness, protection, harmonics and scoped PV fault response; specialist studies need their required data and engines.
- Develop single-line diagrams, cable schedules, quantities and drawing packages with evidence, issues and review history. Model checks do not certify utility compliance.
Grid connections & transmission routes
- Explore mapped grid assets and source-dated published evidence. Review export limits, losses, fees, bays, augmentation and timing assumptions.
- Compare routes under terrain, right-of-way, crossing and cost constraints, with profiles, geographic exports and retained decisions.
- Run scoped load flow, contingency and hosting-limit studies on a reviewed network basis. Mapped assets, historical curtailment and modeled capacity do not establish connection rights.
Battery lifecycle & operation
- Explore container temperature, HVAC energy, ageing, augmentation versus initial overbuild, and yard placement within site constraints.
- Apply reviewed lifecycle costs explicitly to sizing, and replay a fixed design under physical battery and replacement assumptions.
- Compare offline operation using rolling forecasts against perfect foresight. These are planning studies, not a live dispatch controller or manufacturer warranty.
Construction planning
- Review access and laydown fit, roads, earthworks, foundations and material logistics with their evidence.
- Plan 14 work packages and five crew groups; compare critical path, crew capacity, durations, releases and deadlines.
- Retain schedule feasibility and logistics assumptions alongside the design. This supports construction planning rather than live progress tracking.
What you take forward
Reviewed engineering studies and explicit handovers into the selected design.
Public terrain and soil layers provide screening context. Survey quality and field evidence determine whether quantities are suitable for the intended decision. DXF and LandXML are supported CAD paths; native DWG needs an available server converter.
Project Optimisation → Design & proposal
8. Review and export the selected design
Bring the selected revision, economics, operating studies and open evidence into one review package.
- Review the design overview and coordination issues for the selected revision.
- Inspect lifetime cash flows, offline operation replay, battery lifetime and relevant route or engineering reviews. Include completed studies only after checking their assumptions.
- Resolve review items or retain them explicitly as open evidence. Check that changed inputs have been carried through to affected studies.
- Export the proposal package tied to the selected design. Depending on the completed work, it can include a PDF, conceptual drawing, financial and delivery tables, scenarios, review records, selected-design data and supporting studies.
What you take forward
A proposal tied to a retained design revision, with assumptions and open evidence identified.
The current cash-flow workflow uses real prices and pre-tax economics. Operation and battery replay are offline planning studies. Keep production, available grid export and delivered supply distinct when reviewing or sharing results.
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