A unique PV design and comparison tool
The Opsunizer is a powerful preliminary design and financial analysis tool that will help solar developers and building owners to understand the advantages of building a bifacial solar PV project with the right bifacial PV racking. The tool will allow you to craft a quick, high-level layout (it is not a detailed layout tool) and obtain all relevant information on the project utilizing bifacial solar PV panels, such as total power, kWh generation, specific performance (kWh/kWpeak), and an estimate of the bifacial gains (backside boost).
High-level estimations
The goal of the Opsunizer tool is not to give definitive production numbers, which should be obtained with an advanced PV simulation software such as NREL's SAM or PVSYST, but instead to give a high-level estimate of what a monofacial and bifacial project would generate at a given location. Since both the monofacial and the bifacial simulations are done with the same tools using the same assumptions, the Opsunizer allows for an "apple-to-apple" comparison of a monofacial and bifacial system.
A slider will allow you to quickly choose the tilt angle and height from the roof, to see the financial advantages of going at a higher tilt and higher elevation from the roof. Also, you can create as many simulations to compare side-by-side, to see what you project would look like, and compare the performances, at 5 degree monofacial, 10 degree tilt bifacial, or even 20 degree tilt bifacial.
A built-in financial analysis tool will produce a discounted cashflow IRR (internal Rate of Return) analysis, which is calculated based on the revenues per kWh, and the first year and subsequent years expenses.
The Opsunizer tool is designed to help solar project developers understand the benefits of going with a bifacial PV system instead of a monofacial PV system, and help evaluate the gains in profitability (IRR) that will come with a bifacial project.