New solar energy analysis available in beta – share your feedback!

[hilde.bakkeli]

There’s an exciting new addition to Forma’s suite of sustainability-focused analyses: our solar energy analysis (available in beta) will help you evaluate how much energy it’s possible to generate by using solar panels on your site. While it’s in beta, it’s particularly important for us to get your feedback on how we can make this analysis better! 

Harnessing solar energy has become an important part in driving more sustainable building designs. To help you optimize your site and buildings on it for energy efficiency and contribute to your project’s sustainability, we’re introducing a solar energy analysis in beta. It will help you identify which facades or roofs on your site have the most exposure to sun radiation and estimate how much power can be produced by solar panels annually. 

By assessing the potential for solar energy during the early stages of planning you can make high-impact design decisions that improve the business and sustainability outcomes of your project.  

What does the solar energy analysis measure 

Access the new analysis from the analysis menu in the right panel. The solar energy analysis considers the angle of incidence of sun rays, the shading effects of surrounding buildings, and the climate data of your site location. The tool also considers the efficiency and performance of the solar panels. 

During the beta stage, this is the first set of capabilities this analysis supports, and more will come, but you can already achieve the following: 

- explore different options for where you would like to integrate solar panels into your facade or roof design 

- optimize your building orientation and shape for solar exposure and shading 

- get an estimate for how much the building carbon footprint will be reduced by installing solar panels 

What’s next? 

The solar energy analysis joins a growing suite of tools that enable architects to design projects for more sustainable outcomes from the very start of the planning process. It is available in beta, which means that many enhancements are currently in the works. The user interface may evolve quickly, and new features will be added in the coming months. We are very interested in hearing your thoughts on how we can make this analysis even more impactful! 

Try it out and share your feedback in the comments, or by reaching out to us via the in-product chat.  

[jhoneybairstow101]

Exciting news! Forma's beta version of the solar energy analysis provides valuable insights for sustainable building designs. This tool allows exploration of solar panel integration, optimizing building orientation, and estimating carbon footprint reduction. Looking forward to seeing further enhancements and sharing feedback for impactful improvements!

[waldron7YAGT]

I am super excited for this tool. A couple of notes, is there a fast way to remove duplicate geometry errors? Also, how can you filter out surrounding buildings to not be included?

The ability to filter the surfaces inclusion in the total based on potential output would be nice too. So that we can exclude north facing/ low performing roof surfaces.

[per.wessel.noreCT6K6]

Hi! 

I am answering your questions one by one here:

1. "Is there a fast way to remove duplicate geometry errors?" No, not yet. But thanks for the request!

2.  "Can you filter out surrounding buildings to not be included?" Yes, see how to select what to analyze before triggering in our help center: https://help.autodeskforma.com/en/articles/6932460#h_9d5ef259cb

We are work

3. We are currently working on the ability to filter with more granularity. If you are interested, we want to show you what we are working on. Would you be open for a 30-minute call to talk about that?

Kind regards, Per

[andrea_marie_festy]

Hi, 
I just wanted to jump in an share a tip. 
You can use the scale bar on the bottom of the screen to filter on the areas with the highest solar irradiance. This should filter out the bad facades like the north facing. 
Hope this helps.

[hilde.bakkeli]

Feature update for Solar energy analysis - select surfaces of interest for granular output: 

Some weeks ago we released the option allowing you to select individual roofs or facades to get the estimated electrical output for the areas you are interested in. See more information about the feature here.

[erin.holdenriedSRA7W]

Hello - What is the software engine behind the Solar Energy Analysis.  Is there information available on the assumption/inputs for the solar module used and weather data?

[ellis.herman]

Hi Erin! There's an article with the basics of the analysis here and another with more technical information here.

Let me know if they answer your questions!