Project Name text - up to 60 characters required

A short, unique name for your project. If comparing multiple tracker foundations, it's helpful to add a suffix like "Horizon" or "XTR" to each project name so that output information is easily distinguished.

Customer Name text - up to 60 characters required

The name of your company or firm. The customer name will be displayed at the bottom of the planar and grading sheets.

City/Locality text - up to 60 characters required

The city where the project is located, or a nearby road, landmark, or identifying feature.

County text - up to 60 characters required

The county or jurisdictional body for the project.

Author text - up to 5 characters required

The initials of the requesting author for project records. This should also be the project approver.

Secondary Author text - up to 5 characters required

The initials of the project's secondary author or reviewer.

Email Delivery boolean - 0 or 1 optional with default

By default project output files will be delivered through SFTP. If email delivery is preferred, set this to 1 and provide a list of recipient email addresses in "email" sheet of the workbook.

Revision Number number optional with default

The revision number to be used for project records. The revision number will be displayed at the bottom of planar sheets. A value of 1 will be used unless otherwise specified.

Solar Tracker enum required

The solar tracker to be modeled in the project. Tracker selection may be limited by your customer account license. The following trackers are currently supported:

[ATI] - ATI Duratrack HZ
[ATI_Omni] - ATI Omnitrack
[NXT] - Nextracker Horizon
[XTR] - Nextracker Horizon-XTR
[XTR1p5] - Nextracker Horizon-XTR-1.5
[Ojjo_ATI] - ATI with Ojjo
[Ojjo_NXT] - Nextracker with Ojjo
[NEV] - Nevados Terrain Following Tracker
[FTCp] - FTC Pioneer
[FTCdr] - FTC Dual Row
[FTCdrA] - FTC Dual Row Articulating
[mFTCp] - FTC Pioneer (metric units)
[mFTCdr] - FTC Dual Row (metric units)
[mFTCdrA] - FTC Dual Row Articulating (metric units)
[FlexRackS] - Solar Flex Rack S

Support for additional trackers can be requested through your ORCaS contact.

Topography Source enum optional with default

If a value other than "na" is selected, the text label will be copied to the output sheets for recordkeeping. Options:

[na]
[Customer]
[LiDAR]
[NED]

Panel Dimension: Long Edge integer optional with default

The long-edge dimension of the panel, in millimeters. A default value or 2278mm is used unless otherwise specified.

Units of Measurement enum optional with default

The [imperial] units (mainly, feet) are used by default. Select [metric] when the project requires meters be used instead of feet.

Row Calculation Method enum required

The following initial row solutions are currently programmed in. Depending on the project and specific requirements, many other "off-menu" solutions can be used. The common, form-accessible methods are:

[mincut] - Minimum Cut: This approach forces minimum pile in each row to match minimum reveal. Initial pile layout is based on bottom of existing grade z location of first pile to bottom of existing grade z location of last pile. By itself, this approach produces no cut and all fill.
[rbestfit] - Row Best Fit: The linear best fit of each row, measured as line of best fit of ground from first pile to last pile. By nature, this method should produce a near 50/50 cut/fill ratio.
[nbestfit] - Neighbor Best Fit: A best fit method that includes East/West row ends and forms a cubic best fit to North and South terminous piles with surrounding rows. This method can be beneficial in high-slope or variable terrain projects.

Requests for alternative calculation methods may be discussed with your ORCaS contact.

Pile Bin Requirement Sheet enum do not edit

The name of the sheet within the workbook that contains the manufacturer-recommended pile-reveal bins required for the project. All non-NXT projects use the ATI bins.

Pile Reveal Range integer - up to 5 required

Choose the pile reveal range (in number of bins) that you want the code to solve. This reveal range will be maintained with grading, if grading is chosen. It is important to note NXT bins are TOP OF PILE - center of torque tube is 0.75' above TOP OF PILE. ATI bins are CENTER OF TORQUE TUBE.

Disable Grading Calculations boolean - 0 or 1 optional with default

Setting this to 1 turns off all grading calculations. The default of 0 allows grading calculations to process as specified in other fields.

Grading Calculation Method enum optional with default

Aligned is almost always the best solution. Its methodology ensures that all piles have the correct reveal while blending into the surrounding terrain as much as possible. Blocky is a high-level, first-pass method that should be used for early solutions; it is marginally faster to calculate.

Cut to Fill Ratio number required

The number represents the numerator in the cut/fill ratio. Therefore, a value of 1 attempts to balance cut and fill, while a value of 2 results in twice as much cut as fill. If there is flooding on site, it will be almost impossible to balance cut and fill without allowing for adequate steel reinforcement. A value of 0 turns this function off, meaning that only a single grading pass will occur.

Grading to Ignore number required

Ignore grading below this level, in the units of choice (feet or meters). For example, a value of 0.1 would ignore all required grading (cut and fill) less than 0.1 feet.

Calculate Post Grading boolean - 0 or 1 required

If set to 1, calculations for planars and other figures will be completed after the grading calculations.

Trim Surface Area boolean - 0 or 1 required

If set to 1, the topographic surface area will be trimmed to the area of piles plus the surrounding 50 feet.

Write All Surface Data boolean - 0 or 1 optional with default

Set to 1 to write all surface data to the output. This is very impactful to processing time.

Distance Between Blocks number optional

For large projects. If there are multiple blocks where you know the distance between them, setting this value slightly below that distance will create multiple focused plots.

Include Additional Plots text optional

List one or more of these option abbreviations to include additional plots in the project output. List letters only, in any order. For example, "GE", "E", "GS" and "SG" are all understood.

[G] - Grading
[E] - Edge Interference
[S] - Slope

Interpolation Size: x-direction number required

The interpolation size in the x-direction (in feet) for the surface. If fine-grading a project, choose 2. For small projects, choose 5. For large projects, 10 is sufficient. Values less than 1 are for metric projects.

Interpolation Size: y-direction number required

The interpolation size in the y-direction (in feet) for the surface. If fine-grading a project, choose 2. For small projects, choose 5. For large projects, 10 is sufficient. Values less than 1 are for metric projects.

Motor-Centric Rows boolean - 0 or 1 optional with default

Set this value to 1 if you want the row to be motor-centric. The span file must have the pile designated with the suffix "_mtr" for this to work. If not, the span file assumes that the midpoint of the row is the motor point.

Flood File Location text do not edit

Indicates the directory location of the flood file used for the project. The value will be "na" if none was used, or "proj_folder" if located in that folder and named "flood" or a single numeric value of the flood elevation. If a flood surface is given, it should be the flood surface elevation. Using flood depth layer can work but is not best practice.

Flood Cut Ignore Depth number optional with default

All flood depths below this depth are ignored.

Freeboard / Flood Plain Safety Margin number required

The required height of the center of the torque tube (COTT) above the flood plain. May be calculated using the "Calculators" tab of the workbook.

Panel Leading Edge Height number required

A specified height in feet of the lowest edge of the solar panel above dry ground at full tilt. This figure is only used to highlight edges below this value in the edge plot. It is not used to change the height of the row or for any other function. It is purely graphical and informational.

Northern Point Trim boolean - 0 or 1 optional with default

Set to 1 to check if initial northern piles are within the footprint of the top. This check is CPU intensive, and typically only used in troubleshooting, so by default this field is set to 0 to skip.

North-South Fit boolean - 0 or 1 optional with default

The default value of 0 allows rows to be aligned for row-only best fit. Set to 1 to force rows to align North-South. See also [nsdelta].

North-South Neighbor Distance number required

The measurement (in feet), used to check for North-South neighbor row ends out of tolerance. This value is used only to check intra-array rows, not rows across service roads, etc.

North-South Alignment Delta number optional with default

When North-South row alignment is forced with [nsfit], this value specifies the maximum allowable vertical alignment delta, in feet. A value of 1.5 is used by default.

Flip-to-Exterior Setting boolean - 0 or 1 optional with default

Setting this value to 1 enables the flip-to-exterior processing, which updates pile engineering data based on current ATI and NXT specifications.

In brief, some manufacturers specify different engineering requirements for tracker rows in exterior or edge positions, since greater wind forces affect those rows. Similarly, when an interior row differs significantly from its neighbors in height or slope, it's subjected to greater forces and may require the more robust construction specified for exterior and edge rows. The [flipex] function identifies any such row and updates its pile engineering data accordingly - i.e., the row is "flipped to exterior." This function will attempt to reduce flip-to-exterior rows using steel only within the allowable reveal range window. Additional grading calculations may be set up on request, but are not enabled by default.

Rows are flipped to exterior based on the following manufacturer guidelines:

For ATI:
- If the average torque tube height of the row east is 18" higher than the average torque tube height of the row west, then the row east is recoded as an exterior row.
For NXT rows coded as interior rows:
- If the row east average top of pile height is 6.5% above the row west (measured as slope elevation), the row east is recoded as an edge row.
- If the row east average top of pile height is more than 12% above the row west (measured as slope elevation), the row east is recoded as an exterior row.
For NXT rows coded as edge rows:
- If the row east average top of pile height is more than 12% above the row west (measured as slope elevation), the row east is recoded as an exterior row.

Flip-to-Exterior Highlight Only boolean - 0 or 1 optional with default

Leveraging the Flip-to-Exterior processing of the [flipex] funtion, setting this value to 1 means the function will highlight any rows that should flip to exterior per manufacturer guidelines, but will not alter the calculations.

East-West Row Spacing Estimate number required

The estimated East-West distance between rows, in feet or meters. The full study process will refine the estimate and determine optimal spacing based on NPS data.

North/South Row Slope Limits boolean - 0 or 1 optional with default

When enabled (set to 1), North and South row slopes will be limited to values specified in [nslopelimit] and [sslopelimit].

North Row Slope Limit number conditional default

In degrees, the North row slope limit applied when [slopelimit] is set to 1. Default values follow manufacturer specifications: NXT/XTR and ATI_Omni applications default to an 8.5 degree limit; all other trackers default to 14.5 degrees. Default values may be overridden with a custom value if needed.

South Row Slope Limit number conditional default

In degrees, the South row slope limit applied when [slopelimit] is set to 1. Default values follow manufacturer specifications: NXT/XTR and ATI_Omni applications default to an 8.5 degree limit; all other trackers default to 14.5 degrees. Default values may be overridden with a custom value if needed.

Grading Slope Limit: East-West number optional with default

In degrees, the maximum grading slope allowed in the East-West direction for the project site.

Grading Slope Limit: North-South number optional with default

In degrees, the maximum grading slope allowed in the North-South direction for the project site.

Project Directory text do not edit

The relative location of the project files. By default this field is blank.

ORCaS Customer Account Number text - 8 characters required

The ORCaS number assigned to the customer account responsible for the project.

Topography File Location text do not edit

The relative directory location of the topography file used for the project. By default, all project files will be uploaded to a dedicated "proj_folder" directory.

Keypile File Location text do not edit

The relative directory location of the keypile file used for the project. By default, all project files will be uploaded to a dedicated "proj_folder" directory.

Spans File Location text do not edit

The relative directory location of the spans file used for the project. By default, all project files will be uploaded to a dedicated "proj_folder" directory.

Geometric Inputs conditional do not edit

Which solar tracker/foundation manufacturer geometric inputs will be used in the project. This will be determined by the value specified in [tracker].

Allowable East-West Row Delta number optional with default

For ATI runs, the allowable delta in the East-West direction. The typical value is 1.25 feet.

Pile Factory Requirements Sheet text - up to 31 characters optional with default

The name of the sheet within the workbook that contains the specified pile requirements for the project. The default values listed on the "pile_factory" sheet work for many applications.

Pile Binning Requirement Sheet text - up to 31 characters optional with default

The name of the sheet within the workbook file that contains the pile roll-up binning requested for the project. The default values listed on the "pile_binning" sheet work for many applications.

Solar Study Constants Reference