PVcase Platform Reviews

I have been working with PVcase GM almost every day for the past 3 years and my experience has been the most positive. From a software very well thought covering most of the repetitive and time-consuming tasks of designing a solar park, to a team that is always listening to the users to keep their product as the leader in the market. I cannot be more grateful for a tool like this, as it allows me to concentrate my work in the details and corroborate my calculations. The ability to just merge it into AutoCAD and work directly there with files you have already make using it a breeze, you just select your area, choose your predefined settings and that's that! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Up until now, most of the issues that I have faced with the software have been solved in a brief period, and most of the improvement I have recommended or even thought of have been applied, which speaks volumes of the constant development of the software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

PVCase Ground Mount enables engineers to rapidly design, update and review ground mounted projects. I have used PVCase for 4.5 years almost daily and have been consistently impressed by the customer support offered. New features are regularly added and the tutorials provided clearly explain how to use them. When diving into a detailed design the electrical features and Bill of Materials export formed a key part of the process. New members of the team have been able to learn how to use it quickly and it is easy to implement within an existing design team. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The bill of materials export doesn't differentiate between the length of cable in/out of a trench. As ducting is common, it would be great to be able to split this out to make EPC costing quicker. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The PVcase application for AutoCAD stands out as one of the most comprehensive and efficient tools for designing ground-mounted photovoltaic installations. Its seamless integration with AutoCAD provides a smooth user experience, making it an essential choice for engineers and designers looking to optimize their photovoltaic projects.

PVcase is recognized for its intuitive and user-friendly interface, allowing users, even those with little prior experience, to quickly adapt to its functions. From the first interaction, the clarity of its design and the organization of its tools facilitate navigation and efficient use of the software. The customization options and the ability to automate recurring tasks contribute to a significant reduction in design time.

I also highlight the support and assistance always provided by those who work on developing the application, as I always find quick answers to my questions and easy-to-understand explanations explaining its correct use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There are some commands that cannot be applied to a specific area but must be evaluated as a whole, and some design criteria such as the pilling range are also repeated when performing the grounding. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

PVcase Ground Mount is a great asset, increasing the productivity of the Utility Scale photovoltaic plant study department. The tool is easy to use and very intuitive. Very useful for quickly implementing and calculating the slopes that affect the structure. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

According to our opinion:

-Many clients ask us for earth movement calculations, we need to be able to provide them with reliable data, but from our experience, the Civil Analysis tool is not entirely accurate.

-The cost of the annual license means that it must be very justified within the organization that the license is profitable per user. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The speed in the design of a photovoltaic plant. The elimination of human error in the design. The automation of layouts and optimization of peak power. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

At the moment, I haven't found any. Perhaps electrical calculations, even if they are not specific, indicative in the calculation of section and voltage drop under premises of thermal resistivity of the ground and typical cable ampacities. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It is a fast and easy-to-implement program, shortening design times for photovoltaic plant layouts, where it allows you to iterate and evaluate designs with different main equipment, and on the other hand, it helps you optimize times for electrical measurement calculations (Low Voltage DC and AC Cabling, SCB Distribution, Trench Typology, etc.) and civil works (Earthworks, applying Following Terrain tools like Nextracker's XTR, elevation profiles with their slopes, etc.), allowing for more studies since less time is spent than before, when it had to be done manually.

It also allows you to integrate many of the easements and impacts of the corresponding plots, being therefore quite realistic.

Also noteworthy is that the support is very good and constant, with training courses, meetings to resolve doubts or implement market improvements. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

PVcase relies heavily on its users, meaning the program is developed in part by incorporating feedback from suppliers, EPC contractors, and customers, which I think is great. However, on the downside, it sometimes takes a while to adapt to innovative market solutions, instead of getting ahead of them, such as the implementation of tracker tools that improve terrain adaptation and reduce earth movement, like the XTR of Nextracker's Monofila Horizon or the Following Terrain of PVH's Bifila Infinity. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

PVcase Ground Mount has represented a leap in the productivity of the Utility Scale photovoltaic plant study department. From the beginning, the tool, which is presented as a complement to AutoCad, is easy to use and intuitive, featuring a quite comprehensive help platform and online training courses from an initial level to more advanced use cases.

In our case, the usual use is for the design of grid-connected photovoltaic generation installations with a capacity between 20-250 MWp. In this field, the PVcase Ground Mount tool is of great help for creating several layout options with solar trackers, optimizing parameters at discretion (pitch, power, GCR, etc.). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

On the other hand, there are some points to improve in our opinion:

-The calculation of earth movements using the Civil Analysis tool is not entirely reliable, especially in terrains with varying slopes and orientations.

-The configuration of solar trackers that adapt to the terrain is somewhat cumbersome, and their export in PVC format for use in PVsyst is often problematic.

-Cost of the annual license Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The ability of PVCase GM to perform layout iterations in a specific site with different configurations to achieve a certain installed peak power, optimizing various design parameters such as pitch or the necessary aisle spaces for the execution of roads and electrical trenching. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

At the level of civil analysis, it would be interesting to estimate and break down the earthmoving work in excavation and embankment for each range of levels indicated in the system module, also indicating how much 2D area of land needs to be modified. Currently, the heat map generated by PVCase GM only considers all earthmoving work in the same group, without this breakdown mentioned. In any case, the support team is always willing to help quickly with any questions or suggestions, and I am sure that for this suggestion as well as others, we will obtain improvements! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The tool allows converting any DWG file to your own work environment very easily. It is very useful and very easy to learn to use both for making the initial layout and for later designing all the electrical wiring of the plant for both LV and MV with different configurations (central inverter, string inverter...). Additionally, you can export all that information to an Excel file with which, if you know how to handle Excel well, you have a lot of very useful information to work with. Additionally, it is updated with customer reviews quite frequently. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

For the case where the plant design is with buses, the tool still does not have a way to independently obtain the electrical measurement (with the Excel file and with Visual Basic you can get an approximation) and as I understand it, for earthworks, the tool is not very precise and usually results in a bit more than what you would get with a specialized tool for it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Fundamental tool for daily use in the design of photovoltaic plants. The capacity for updating and improving the software is noteworthy: PVcase grows as the sector grows, responding to the requirements of the different agents that comprise it. The continuous improvement of processes, design capacity, and adaptation to new products makes it an indispensable software. The technical support of PVcase is also efficient and resolute. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

A possible improvement: parameterization for the arrangement of trackers/tables and their classification based on wind load exposure, according to the criteria or requirements of each manufacturer. In large-scale projects, it would mean a substantial time saving. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.