Plugin to measure solar input?

Rhino Rhino for Windows
1

Was browsing around but didn’t find anything specific to this…
Basically, I’m wondering if there’s something similar to what a planner might use for calculating solar energy received for panels placed on a roof.
I’m not planning on putting any on my roof at the moment, but might consider some smaller ones, freestanding or on a shed roof.

Is there a plugin that can calculate this based on things like the geometry of a panel, lat/lon, and time/date?

TIA

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You probably will want to look at Ladybugs / Honeybee ( Ladybug Tools | Honeybee )

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Will do - thanks Nathan!

4

Hi again - just jumped on to read this morning, and the “Radiance” link (from within your link) isn’t working. Can you confirm that the radiance-online.org is correct?

I assume it is, but figured I’d check.

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Hi Andrew -

That’s something that you will need to report on the Ladybug Tools forum → https://discourse.ladybug.tools
-wim

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Ah! Thanks.

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I suggest looking at:

for designing a solar planel system. This is what I used to design my 88 panel installation and it was spot on.

With this you can see your panels’ output for your location and for different panel orientations you are considering over the course of a year.

Plugins are nice but I highly recommend giving pvwatts a try.

My now 11-year old PV system keeps doing what pvwatts predicted. The system was designed to replace all my household electrical needs when averaged over the year. With Net Metering, we have had no electrical bill for the past 11 years.

Regards,
Terry.

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Hi Andrew,

Yes, https://www.radiance-online.org is the correct link. The Radiance web site can be somewhat temperamental, and isn’t always accessbile.