In solar planning, you design a solar PV system directly on a planning background: you draw roofs and other surfaces, fill them with panels and add inverters, strings, batteries and the mounting system.

As a background you can use map providers, perspective photos, building blueprints or 3D models. Alternatively, you configure a system by numbers without drawing.

From each design you then create a simulation, a proposal and a presentation, as well as the technical documentation for installation.

Solar planning has three areas: the header, the System sidebar and the canvas.

The sidebar summarises the system and is the quickest way to every component:

Use the icon at the top left of the canvas to hide and show the sidebar.

Click an element on the canvas or in the sidebar. Its details open in the sidebar, and buttons for the selection appear next to Add:

Above them, key hints show what a key does at that moment:

Right-click an element to open a menu with Rename, Duplicate and Delete, plus Edit for panels and other products and Clear for strings (removes all panels from the string).

The same actions are also in the details of each element in the sidebar: click ... there to rename, duplicate or delete the element, for example. For a string, you can also assign it to another inverter there.

On tablets and small screens, Add and Actions sit in a bar at the bottom. When an element is selected, Edit, Duplicate and Delete appear there.

When you first open a design, choose one of five modes in the Get started! dialog and click Start planning. Later you change the background in the sidebar under Settings > Planning background. You set a default background for your company in the general Settings under PV-Planning.

You plan on satellite or aerial images of the address. There are two kinds of image:

With 3D Terrain you also show the terrain model. This lets you plan facades and fences on slopes on map providers too.

You plan on your own 2D drone photos or on roof photos taken from the ground. You calibrate each roof using two known lengths, after which the panels follow the perspective of the photo. Find out more in Planning on perspective photos.

You upload an orthographic 2D image (.jpg, .jpeg, .png), typically a building blueprint or an orthographic drone photo. When uploading, you draw a Reference line of known length and set where north is in the image.

Blueprints are particularly suitable for new builds and are very accurate. Normal drone photos are not orthographic: plan them on perspective photos or as a 3D model instead.

In a 3D model, the pitch and orientation of the roofs are detected automatically. You have two options:

Find out how to take the drone photos for photogrammetry correctly in Roof survey with a drone.

You don't draw anything, but enter the system as numbers, e.g. output, orientation, pitch and layout (Single-sided or Dual-sided (east-west)). This is useful for a quick first design or for adding an existing solar system to the simulation, e.g. when you retrofit a battery. Find out more in Configuring a solar system by numbers.

Panels always need a surface: a roof, a carport, a wall or a fence.

Click Add > Roof and choose a drawing mode in the action bar:

While drawing, lines snap at 45°, 90° and 180° and parallel to existing edges. Hold Shift to switch snapping off briefly.

Connected roof surfaces (2D maps): After the first roof, click a corner point to draw the adjoining roof side straight away. The values of a roof group then apply to all connected roof sides. In 3D models, draw each roof side separately, so that pitch and orientation are detected most accurately.

Click a roof on the canvas or in the sidebar under Surfaces. For connected roofs, the first click selects the roof group and the second the individual roof side. Drag corners and edges to change shape and size.

In the roof details you set:

The details also show the number of panels and the yield of this roof. Use ... to rename or delete a roof, or press ⌫.

Even on 2D maps, autarc shows the design in 3D. Click 3D at the bottom right. This requires Slope, Roof base height and orientation to be filled in for every roof side.

You'll find all of the following elements under Add in the Site section. Select each one with a click, like a roof, and edit it in its details.

Choose Dormer and pick the shape Flat, Gable or Hipped in the action bar. Move the dormer onto a roof and click to place it. You change its size directly on the canvas by dragging the dormer's dimension labels, or in the details with Width, Length and Height above roof. If there are already panels on the dormer, remove them first.

With Wall, Fence and Carport you can also place panels on house walls, fences and carports. Surfaces you create appear in the sidebar under Surfaces. Find out how to create and set them up in Planning facades, fences and carports.

Draw Window and Obstruction freehand, as a rectangle or as a circle on a roof. An obstruction stands for any area that must stay clear, e.g. a chimney, a roof hatch or a skylight. After placing it, set the shape and height in the details and the type under Category.

autarc leaves windows and obstructions free when filling automatically. If you place panels by hand, you can also work without them and simply leave those areas free.

Click Add > Panels or + next to Panels in the sidebar and choose a panel from your products. The panels on a surface form a grid, which you'll find in the sidebar under Panels.

In the action bar, choose how to place them:

A grid created with Fill automatically has the Auto-fill panels option switched on. The layout then adapts to every change: panels that no longer fit are removed and freed positions are filled again. If you delete a panel by hand, the option switches off.

Invalid panels: Panels that stick out over the edge of their surface, sit on an obstruction or lie under another panel are marked red. They don't count towards kWp and yield. Use Delete invalid panels to remove them all at once.

Select a grid. In the details you set how the panels are mounted:

Add these components via Add in the System section or with + next to the relevant section in the sidebar. All components feed into the economics with their costs and into the simulation with their data.

Click Add > Inverter or + next to Inverter in the sidebar. autarc rates the inverters in your catalogue and shows the Best fit and the Cheapest compatible option under Overview.

Important: If you select from Overview or Sizing, the inverter replaces all existing ones and the panels are strung automatically. From List it is only added. Find out how the rating works and why correct prices in your products matter in Inverter and battery recommendations.

Assign microinverters directly to the panels: click a panel or drag across several panels.

Alternatively, Auto-create strings creates the strings for an inverter. In the sidebar under Inverter you see how many MPP trackers each inverter has in use. Strings without an inverter are at the top of the list; drag them onto an inverter to assign them. Use ... on the string to delete or reassign it. autarc carries the strings' names and colours over to the string plan in the technical documentation. Find out more in String planning.

Under DC Optimizer, click a panel or drag across several panels to add or remove optimisers.

Click Add > Battery or + next to Battery in the sidebar. autarc recommends batteries by payback and self-sufficiency. In solar planning, the battery you choose is always added. Find out more in Inverter and battery recommendations.

Click Add > Mounting system or + next to Mounting system in the sidebar. In Mounting you choose a mounting system per building, record the substructure and create the bill of materials. autarc also assesses wind and snow loads. Find out more in Planning the mounting system and bill of materials.

In the sidebar under Shading, switch on the Shading Simulation. You see the shadows at a chosen Date and Time of day or as a Yearly average. The Shade map shows how heavily each spot is shaded, and the Shading objects list shows how much yield removing each single object would gain. Shadows are cast by roofs, trees, fences, obstructions and the 3D model or 3D terrain.

You can show the shade map by Shading or Stringing. Show report opens the Shade Report with the losses per panel and object. Find out how to set up and analyse shading in Simulating and analysing shading. More on the yield calculation in How is the PV yield calculated?

From each design, autarc creates the documents for installation: circuit diagram, string plan, panel layout plan, CAD drawing, bill of materials and shade report. You open them via Action in the Documentation section or in the Survey & Design tab via the Technical Documentation tile.

Each document is generated automatically from the design and can be adjusted and added to. You download the documents individually as PDFs or combine them into a report, which your installation team receives in the autarc Field App via Pre-Installation. Find out more in “Creating the technical documentation”.

A project can have several designs, e.g. one option with and one without a battery. Click the design name in the header to open the list. Each design shows a preview image, price and output; the open one is marked Current.

Simulation, technical documentation, proposal and presentation always belong to one design. Use Action to open or create them for the design you are working on.

The Layers button at the bottom right opens three sections:

In the sidebar under Settings you set:

Use the help icon in the header to start a guided tour of solar planning with Take the tour, or open the Keyboard Shortcuts or the Help Center. An overview of all shortcuts is also in Keyboard shortcuts in solar planning.

You plan most accurately on a 3D model, most easily with the Photogrammetry Service. Without a drone flight, orthomaps such as Bluesky Orthomap are the best basis. If you only have photos from the customer or normal drone photos, plan on perspective photos. Blueprints suit new builds, Configure by numbers a quick design without drawing.

Yes, in two ways: plan a single photo per roof side on perspective photos. From a whole series of photos of the building, the Photogrammetry Service creates a 3D model. Only orthographic images are suitable as a blueprint, because the panels there aren't adapted to the camera perspective.

The entry gives the reason. Usually a prerequisite is missing, e.g. Draw a roof first for windows or Place solar panels first for strings. With perspective photos, some elements are always Not available with this background.

A chimney is an Obstruction. Draw it as a rectangle or circle and enter its height in the details so that it casts a shadow in the shading.