PVsyst Solar Power Plant Design

PVsyst's evaluation is time-limited, and its terms (how long it lasts, which components you can use and how its reports are marked) are set out on pvsyst.com: read them before you install. Once it ends you need a licence to keep doing full studies. Install it when you reach the modules where you build a full project, and do the string sizing and shading arithmetic on paper before that.

Performance ratio is the energy a PV system actually delivers divided by the energy it would produce if it ran at its rated efficiency at standard test conditions under the same incident sunlight, so it measures the plant's losses rather than its weather. PVsyst's documentation states that PR is defined in the standard IEC EN 61724 for grid-connected systems without storage and that it is not directly dependent on weather data or plane orientation. Reading PR alongside specific yield and the loss diagram is part of the simulation report work in this course.

PVsyst is paid software. Its time-limited evaluation is enough to learn the method; read its current terms and limits on pvsyst.com first. Plan the trial window so it covers the modules where you actually build a project, and use the earlier modules to work through the sizing and shading arithmetic on paper. The method transfers unchanged to a licensed seat at work.

Basic electrical engineering: series and parallel DC circuits, what open-circuit voltage and maximum power point mean, three-phase supply, and roughly what a grid-connected inverter does. Diploma and BE electrical graduates have enough. It is not a first course in electricity.

No. PVsyst SA runs its own paid training, and there are paid solar design certifications from other bodies. This course is preparation for the work those certifications cover. It is not any of them, and it is never described as equivalent to one.

Both, because the method is the same. Grid-connected design is the spine, with rooftop constraints such as parapet shading and self-consumption covered alongside ground-mount pitch, ground cover ratio and grid injection limits. Off-grid and solar pumping systems get their own module.

Yes. Every module, practice task and assessment. You create an account so your progress is saved and the assessments can be marked. The certificate is the only paid item, and only if you want it.

An EDWartens Certificate of Completion, issued when you have finished every module and passed the final assessment, with a verification code anyone can check. It is not a vendor credential and is never described as one.

The creators named in the Credits block at the foot of this page, on their own YouTube channels, including the PVsyst tutorials published by PVsyst itself. EDWartens did not make the videos and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.

PVsyst is named by name in design-engineer job descriptions at solar EPC contractors, developers and module makers, and the practice tasks are the calculations those interviews ask about: string length, ground cover ratio, loss assumptions and reading a report. It is the design method, not a placement guarantee.

No. The lab is optional practice. You can skip it whenever you like, and it never blocks your progress, the final assessment or your certificate.

Yes. Every lab level for this course opens in your browser, free, with nothing to install.

The PVsyst Solar Power Plant Design course has 12 modules. It opens with "The PVsyst workflow end to end", goes through "Site, meteo and climate data", "Near shading: building the 3D scene", "Detailed losses" and "Optimisation, batch simulation and the economic evaluation" and ends with "Final assessment". The full list with minutes is under "What you learn" on this page.

After the PVsyst Solar Power Plant Design course: Build a PVsyst project from coordinates and choose a climate source you can defend to a reviewer; Read PAN and OND files against the datasheet and size a string to the inverter MPPT window and its maximum DC input voltage; Set tilt, azimuth, row pitch and ground cover ratio, and see what each costs in yield. These are the practical outcomes the course is written around, and the final assessment of 15 questions checks them.

For the PVsyst Solar Power Plant Design course, software: PVsyst 8: its time-limited evaluation version (read the current terms and limits on pvsyst.com) or a licensed seat at work. Google Earth and SketchUp Free for site imagery and 3D scenes. Hardware: none required. The course itself is free.

PVsyst Solar Power Plant Design is rated intermediate. Intermediate. Assumes basic electrical engineering: series and parallel DC circuits, three-phase supply, and what a grid-connected inverter does. No prior PVsyst experience needed. It is written for electrical and energy engineers, and takes about 10.3 hours at your own pace.

Skills from the PVsyst Solar Power Plant Design course (for example: build a PVsyst project from coordinates and choose a climate source you can defend to a reviewer) are used in roles such as energy engineer, power systems engineer, solar or EV technician and site engineer, and in renewable energy engineer work. The course gives you practical evidence of the skill; it does not promise a job, and employers decide on experience and interview.