Ashok Fernandez, Jarrad Raumati, Darren O'Neill
Models the technical and financial details of a photovoltaic farm. The user specifies the parameters of the site which then calculates the expected output energy at the grid entry point (GEP).
A site and grid entry point can be selected using GPS coordinates which assist in calculating the insolation from the sun using PySolar. System components such as panels, DC and AC cables, inverter, transformer and transmission lines can be specified using the graphical user interface, which will then run the model simulation.
The outputs from the simulation can be listed and plotted for the user to determine if the parameters produce a viable solar farm.
In it's current state, the calculator should run on any operating system that supports python and the dependant packges. Once dependant packages are installed and an OpenExchangeRates API key is inserted into the relevant place (see below) the program can be run by running main.py either in an IDE or by opening a shell in the main folder and typing
python main.py
The packages that this project depends on are
Furthermore the GUI was designed using wxFormBuilder, the design file for this can be found in the GUIDesign folder
Special thanks goes out to the above projects for providing such great tools!
An API key is required from OpenExchangeRates.org. The free API key will suffice for this project as there is a limit to how often the software will hit the API for new data. When you have gotten an API key place it at the top of Assets.py to ensure the exchange rates are retreieved.
The code has been heavily documented, this can be compiled into a PDF using doxygen and latex or as a web reference manual using Epydoc.
To build the HTML documentation (recommeded over the PDF - it's a lot easier to follow) you first need to install Epydoc. If you have pip installed you can do this opening a terminal and typing
sudo pip install epydoc
Otherwise follow the installation instructions on the Epydoc website.
Once Epydoc is installed, open a terminal in the /Docs/ folder and type
epydoc --config epydocfile
This will generate HTML documentation which can be accessed by opening /Docs/html/index.html
To build the PDF documentation install doxygen and latex then open a shell in the Docs directory and type
doxygen
cd latex/
make
A documentation file 'refman.pdf' will be avaliable in the latex folder which outlines in detail the different classes in the code and how they function.
The addition of extra settings in the settings pane would be nice - perhaps include an option to tweak the simulation timestep and a space to enter an OpenExchangeRates API key.