A Cutting-Edge Software for the Feasibility Analysis and Design of Photovoltaic Power Plants

Project Information

pvDesign

Grant agreement ID: 817285

DOI

10.3030/817285

Project closed

EC signature date 1 May 2018

Start date 1 May 2018

End date 31 August 2018

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

RATED POWER SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - pvDesign (A Cutting-Edge Software for the Feasibility Analysis and Design of Photovoltaic Power Plants)

Reporting period: 2018-05-01 to 2018-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Developing a solar PV project is a process involving many stages and requires a team of experts to carry out a feasibility analysis, the design and basic engineering documentation, making it time and cost consuming. We have developed pvDesign, a SW that allows to automate these procedures making it much faster (max 1h), accurate, flexible and reliable (errors from 10% to 3.5%). The main goal is to automate, optimize and accelerate the traditional engineering practice. It’s easy to use and its features allow clients to be more successful in managing its resources, optimize their projects and thus, leading to a lucrative investment. By bringing such a disruptive technology to the market, owners, managers and constructors of PV solar plants will benefit. The main requirements that should be met are: technical development, assess the market of SW for PV plants, identify the most feasible means of commercial and legal protection, enhance our already strong commercial strategy and develop a business plan.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

A Freedom to Operate analysis has been performed, pvDesign can be commercialised but the protection strategy has to be defined for each targeted region. Regarding the technical progress, we developed the Energy Yield tool that will hurl our SW and have identified our next moves to implement all necessary upgrades. We analysed the new targeted markets to assess volume, end users and the best penetration strategy. We performed a risk assessment to make sure that the most relevant risks are identified and set a contingency plan. There are already 20 customers using pvDesign and 100 companies in more than 50 countries tested and validated it. We also value trade fairs and demonstration activities as a business opportunity to attract our customers and establish more commercial agreements.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

pvDesing seeks to revolutionize PV solar plant engineering thanks to its in-depth automation and entirely new features providing a substantial cost reduction of the viability and development phases of the project. The accurate design method offers errors reduction in a much faster timeframe- 1h compared to 3 weeks - making it easier to reach the EU directive limits and accelerating the transition to make solar power world's main energy source. With pvDesign we will become a technological standard with a unique solution that will disrupt EU and international PV management markets and reaching 50% market share, €30 million cumulative revenues and 15 direct employees by 2024.

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