Solar photovoltaic design tool for non-residential buildings: From blueprints to arrays

In the United States, approximately 65 × 109 square-feet of underutilized rooftop space could be appropriated for the installation of solar photovoltaic systems. Although several programs are available that assist in designing a photovoltaic (PV) system, a planning tool that can take an adaptive modeling approach towards capitalizing on the complex geometry of a rooftop does not exist. We therefore focus on the development of a parametric planning tool for retrofitting rooftops with solar photovoltaic systems. The solar planning tool exploits the existing blueprint of a building's rooftop, and via image processing, the layouts of the solar photovoltaic arrays are developed based on the building's geographical location and typical weather patterns. The resulting energy generation of a PV system is estimated and is utilized to determine the leveled energy costs. The advantage of incorporating image processing in the design of a PV system not only reduces the time required for performing a robust solar PV analysis but also enables a high-level of dimensional precision when modeling the solar arrays, thus making a rooftop solar photovoltaic system installation ultimately more cost-effective. This paper demonstrates the planning tool and verifies the output array layout, sizing of the balance of system components, and expected energy generation with the existing rooftop photovoltaic systems.