Dorota Sauerova
Sep 23, 2025
Time Series data captures the full spectrum of historical variability. 15-min Time Series data spanning up to 30 years of history accounts for 365 days across the 30-year period – offering a detailed representation of solar conditions, including rare and extreme scenarios.
We strongly recommend using TS over TMY because only when analyzing all the years available in the database we can capture the effect of global warming and patterns.
Site adaptation is an approach of reducing uncertainty in the estimate of solar resource by combining satellite-based long-term time series with short-term high-accuracy ground data measured near the project site.
If you want to use your ground measurements in simulation, our Consultancy Team checks the quality of the data and creates a site-adapted dataset that can be simulated. This service can be requested directly from Solargis Evaluate.
You can read more about how site adaptation service works in Evaluate here.
Solargis Evaluate provides bankable data accepted by banks, investors, and other stakeholders. Our algorithms are based on real-world physics, grounded in peer-reviewed scientific literature and built on transparent, traceable, and validated models.
Tax and depreciation are not included in Evaluate reports.
The ray tracing algorithm is based on Monte Carlo backward path-tracing, where we trace back the source of light to each cell and take into account multiple bounces until the source of light is reached. This is validated with bifacial_radiance.
You can read the comparison of PV simulators available on the market here.
No, at the moment it's not possible due to generative design approach of the Solargis Evaluate's Energy system designer. Solargis is part of initiative to build exchangeable format, but it will not be available until 2027.
Curently the supporting structure is considered in the simulation only for trackers and only torque tube of the tracker is affecting it. That is the reason why it is possible to change torque tube parameters in your design as the shape, diameter, albedo, offset from pv modules and more.
Torque tube is not just blocking the reflected light to backside of the panels, but also reflects the light if there is a vertical gap in 2P systems.
For a 10MWp power plant the simulation time is under 10 min. This runtime is driven by the use of 15-minute Time Series data spanning more than 30 years of history and modeled at the individual cell level.
You can run multiple simulations at the same time and we are not blocking your hardware resources because everything is processed in a cloud. Solargis recommends simulating over the full satellite history.
The temporal coverage map can be found here.
The Solargis soiling model quantifies the impact of soiling by estimating the soiling ratio (SR), which is empirically related to the mass of deposited particles. This accumulated mass on the surface of the PV modules is obtained from advanced physics-based models tailored for PV plants.
The SR is directly related to the transmission loss, whose overall effect on the PV production is termed soiling loss (SL). Despite uncertainties in input data, this model provides a reliable basis for estimating performance losses worldwide.
It incorporates meteorological data (e.g., PM2.5, PM10, rainfall, wind speed, temperature) along with variables such as air density and module effective tilt and orientation to evaluate soiling effects. Cleaning events—whether natural (like rain) or manual—reset the accumulation process.
You can read more about how we calculate the soiling losses here.
Currently it is not possible to transfer projects from PVsyst to Solargis Evaluate.
If you import Solargis TMY into PVsyst, make sure you upload the unshaded values because as you say PVsyst applies their horizon automatically. To avoid double shading, upload only Solargis unshaded values.
However, when you activate data in Evaluate, you can see also shaded values because we apply our horizon. If you want you can import Solargis horizon data into PVsyst after data import.
Solargis Evaluate includes long-term average values of albedo. If you want Time Series of ground surface albedo data with daily resolution, you need to request a consultancy study.
The report analyses albedo variability and provides more accurate long-term average values for bifacial PV simulation.
Yes, you can read more about how we calculate soiling losses here.
Yes, far horizon shading is calculated from the environmental data and depicts the shading caused by the surrounding terrain.
It is not possible to set different slope thresholds for N-S restrictions and different for E-W slope restrictions now.
Yes, shadows in the 3D scene are accurate. Solargis Evaluate uses a sun geometry algorithm to cast shadow in a specific day in a year and at specific time.
Shading is caused by far shading horizon that is visible in the scene, by the surrounding terrain and by objects added to the scene like PV modules, inverters, transformers, buildings, power transformers, line shading objects or even modified terrain.
Each of this object has defined albedo value that also bounce the light rays so not only shading effect is included, but in the simulation also albedo effect in shaded areas is considered.
Export functionality provides options to export solar & meteo data in various formats and compatibility modes with third party softwares and also results of the simulations can be exported in its native resolution or aggregation.
Simulated data can be exported in 15 minute step or 1-minute step natively or as an aggregation to hourly, daily or yearly values. You can check out the sample data exports here.
