NEW: Single Line Diagrams

Solar systems are electrical power systems and have inherit electrical safety risks.

Systems that are inappropriately designed or installed, or operated incorrectly pose a life threatening risk to all users and peoples in close proximity. Single Line Diagrams (SLD) are an important step in designing and installing solar systems as they relay technical electrical information about the solar system. SLDs are viewed by solar installation teams, maintenance personnel and electrical grid operators to understand how the solar system should be installed and operates. They are a required part of various solar system documentation such as Installer Job Sheets, Owner Manuals and Grid Application forms.

Professional, engineering standard SLDs are typically created on AutoCAD by electrical engineers and drafters. The software is extremely technical, require engineering knowledge and is time intensive. The high barrier of entry means most solar designers avoid using AutoCAD and use other more simple software tools.

• MS Visio, MS Paint - these are generic office software and are used to graphically draw the SLD. Solar designers are able to produce adequate SLD required for documentation but the tools are time intensive and lack the professionalism of AutoCAD. This is the solution most industry solar designers will use.
• Helioscope, Aurora Solar - these are solar specific design tools that can easily generate professional solar SLDs. Despite it’s advantages, they are not commonly used in the Australian solar industry as they are American software and will produce SLDs designed for American standards.
• SolarPlus, OpenSolar - although these are solar design tools catered for the Australian industry they lack the ability to generate professional engineering standard SLDs. The SLD are simple representations and typically only used in Owner Manuals.

Pylon Observer’s Single Line Diagram feature addresses all the short-comings of existing tools.

Once the Solar Designer has designed panel stringing using Pylon Observer’s Panel Stringing, a professional engineering standard SLD can be generated in a single click. The features utilizes stringing information available from the panel design process. This streamlines the workflow for solar designers and requires very little technical knowledge. The SLD generated is designed for Australian standards and can be used for all required documentations.

Feedback from beta users have indicated substantial labor cost savings for solar businesses. Professional SLDs can be generated in less than a minute, previously taking approximately 1.5 hours per SLD, and be produced by lower cost non-technical staff.