Changelog

Status

25% complete - target release Q1 2025

• Implementing improvements for complex site topographies.
• Full site alignment in north-south as well as east-west directions.
• Users will be able to choose independent slope alignment criteria for each cardinal direction, as well as the number of neighbors to align with.
• Different logic will be applied depending on the selected tracker type.
• This approach will allow for different grading approaches if requested, initially 'natural fit' - an approach designed to mimic native terrain, and 'planar' - an approach designed to create large 3D constant-slope planes.
• Updated or new input variables to include:
  
  • [nsfit] - north-south fit binary switch
  • [nsNum] - will replace [nsdist] allowing the user to force alignment with 1-4 northern or southern neighbors
  • [ewfit] - east-west fit binary switch
  • [ewNum] - will allow the user to choose alignment with 1-2 neighbors in both east and west directions
  • [allfit] - will supercede both [nsfit] and [ewfit] to do a localized neighbor fit
  • [allfitNum] - choices will be either 4 (orthogonal neighbors) or 8 (orthogonal plus corner neighbors)
  • [gAlign] - either 'natural fit' or 'planar'

Status

25% complete - target release Q1 2025

• Following tracker manufacturer documentation, and using neighbor-seeking logic, row-type determination will occur for interior, edge, and exterior row types.
• Proof-of-concept coding has shown that wind loading calculations for exterior row types is viable. No estimate for completion date.

Status

100% complete - beta integration available - target release Q1 2025

• This feature is currently available for beta integration and use upon partner request.
• In order to give further control to users, any rows with no below-threshold neighbors will now be assigned a grade-to distance. Outside of this distance, algorithmic grading will return to native grade at the requested ratio.
• Updated or new input variables to include:
  
  • [runoutDist] - distance to run-out grading in line with selected methods
  • [runoutRatio] - ratio defined as the X in the equation (X:1). Therefore 4:1 runout would be represented by a runoutRatio value of 4.0.

Status

10% complete - target release Q1 2025

• In order to better assess grading approaches and end effects of grading, a full 2D rain on grid model is being created. The model is based on a fully-explicit shock-capturing method, and is able to handle wetting and drying of cells, as well as trans-critical flow. The method maintains stability through variation of the CFL and ensuring the method maintains TVD. The method is being designed to run on GPUs, but can easily be extended to utilize multiple processors.
  
  Initial tests show that the final method should be computationally efficient enough to complete 100-year 24-hour rain on grid storms at a rate of approximately 2500 acres per hour at a 5-foot grid cell size resolution using a single nVidia RTX 4000 Ada generation GPU assuming an average 1-second timestep.
  
  The expected initial outcome is to analyze selected projects pre- and post-grading. The accuracy and resolution of the model should be sufficient for determination of depth, velocity, and scour pre-post deltas. Extension of the model to contain full watersheds or allow for input hydrographs is possible.

Improvements

• Webmap based indicatives: KMLs are now a valid input file type.
• KML and KMZ now work equally as input files for the webmap.

• Webmap based indicatives: When KMZ or KML are uploaded, only visible layers are used for mapping.
• Per user request, only visible KMZ or KML layers are used for mapping. As before, the only valid input layer type is a polygon layer. All others are ignored.

Improvements

• Final δY and δZ position calculations have been updated per Array Document 93002-000, Rev A-2.
• Note to users: Array Document 93002-000, Rev A-2 lists different values of L_i (bearing housing length) for aluminum and steel bearing housings. The default value is set to aluminum housings. Steel housing lengths can be used if requested.

Improvements

• During detailed analysis, if requested, DNV Solar Farmer bay location input files are now created. The user will be required to provide accurate and valid EPSG.io identifiers for the project's current state plane coordinate system as well as the target UTM (meters) coordinate system required for DNV Solar Farmer use. For this feature to work, projects must be requested through the Project Upload Portal

Improvements

• In projects with no spans given, the logic for creating piles has been updated to place a pile approximately every 24' (imperial) or every 7 meters (metric). Each row has a minimum of 5 pile, and all rows have an odd number of pile with the motor located in the middle pile position. The first and last piles are now located 5' (imperial) or 1.5m (metric) from the row ends.
• In NPS files with a header row 'numpile' the [numpile] specified number of pile for each row will be used. If the number of pile is not even, the motor pile will be placed at ceil(numpile/2).

Bugs Fixed

• Fixed rare issue where post-graded surfaces could develop holes.

Improvements:

• Updated initial pile layout to provide accurate preliminary figures for requested grading ratio.

• Revised grading methodology to target single-pass rather than iterative methodology. If the initial best-guess provided by the updated initial pile layout is close enough, the surface is shifted in a manner to provide a near-exact grading ratio (limited only by the curvature of the final surface fit). If the initial guess is not within the required margin, a new surface is fitted before the final surface shifting.

  This improvement opens the door for rapid deployment of different approaches to grading, which should satisfy the needs of clients in all jurisdictions. Users are encouraged to submit their desired grading methodology for review and inclusion into the code.