Solar Panels Calculator compared with PVsyst, HelioScope, SAM and PVWatts| Solar Panels Calculator (PVGIS API 5.2) | PVsyst | HelioScope | SAM | PVWatts |
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| Tools and outputs: Endpoints for grid-connected and tracking PV (PVcalc), off-grid PV (SHScalc), monthly and daily radiation, hourly radiation series, typical meteorological year and horizon profile. Output comes as CSV, JSON, or EPW for the TMY tool. | Tools and outputs: Modelling of system type, weather data, geometry and loss assumptions for PV projects, aimed at bankable yield studies. | Tools and outputs: Design of commercial solar systems with production estimates and system size optimisation. Lenders cited by the vendor use its estimates in underwriting. | Tools and outputs: Time-series simulation of power system performance together with annual pro forma cash flow, so it covers techno-economic questions for renewables beyond PV yield. | Tools and outputs: Simplified estimate of PV energy production. Version 8 adds bifacial modules, monthly soiling and snow loss inputs and an optional albedo input. |
| Weather and radiation data: Selected with the raddatabase parameter: PVGIS-SARAH3 for Europe, Africa and Asia, PVGIS-NSRDB for the Americas between 60 N and 20 S, and PVGIS-ERA5. COSMO and CMSAF are deprecated. | | | | Weather and radiation data: NSRDB PSM V3 typical meteorological year datasets (tmy-2020 and the Himawari TMY) replace the older 2015 NSRDB sets. |
| Modelo de licença e custos: Public web service with no stated fee on the API page. Only GET requests are accepted and the rate limit is 30 calls per second per IP address. | Modelo de licença e custos: Paid annual subscription. A 30-day evaluation exists, with generic components and an EVALUATION label on reports, according to a third-party review. | Modelo de licença e custos: Commercial product of Aurora Solar. A review site lists no public pricing. | Modelo de licença e custos: Free and open source under the BSD 3-Clause licence, with source code on GitHub. | Modelo de licença e custos: The page states the model may be used for any purpose, and that NREL gives no support, consulting or training. |
| Platform and integration: Web API for scripts and applications. AJAX calls are blocked by the CORS policy, so browser pages need a server-side proxy. | Platform and integration: Windows workstation software that cannot run through a Windows Remote Desktop client. A separate command-line product exists for server runs. | Platform and integration: Web-native platform. | Platform and integration: Desktop application written in C++ with wxWidgets. | Platform and integration: Web calculator with an API now at version 8. |
| Version and status: PVGIS 5.3 and 5.2 are served at versioned API paths. The unversioned path serves 5.2 for a limited period, and access to 5.1 has been removed. | Version and status: PVsyst 8 is the current professional release listed on the vendor shop. | Version and status: Aurora Solar announced the acquisition of developer Folsom Labs in August 2021 and presents HelioScope as part of its offer. | | Version and status: Current version 8.4.0, released on 5 September 2024. |
