Solar Energy Analysis (powered by PVGIS) plans a photovoltaic layout on a site and estimates how much electricity it would produce over a year. Provide a polygon for the site, optional exclusion zones, and a panel-layout template, and Atlas computes the panel placement, peak power, ground coverage ratio, and annual energy yield.
Open the tool
Open the right-hand panel, switch to the Tools tab, and select Solar Energy Analysis.
Inputs
- Site — the polygon dataset where panels can be placed. The currently active dataset is preselected.
- Exclusion zones — optional polygons, points, or lines that mark areas where panels must not be installed (existing buildings, conservation areas, access roads). Buffer the exclusions with exclusion zone buffer in template settings.
- Choose solar template — pick a saved layout template, or click New template to create one. Templates capture panel dimensions, orientation, tracking, row spacing, corridors, tilt, azimuth, and system loss.
- Analysis name — used when you save the layout as a dataset; defaults to "
- Solar Analysis".
Template settings
A template stores the full layout configuration:
- Panel hardware: width, height, peak power.
- Layout: portrait/landscape orientation, modules per length, modules per width, fixed or single-axis tracking.
- Spacing: row distance, structure distance, peripheral buffer, exclusion-zone buffer.
- Corridors: optional vertical/horizontal access corridors with configurable count and spacing.
- Energy model: tilt (slope), azimuth, optimise-angles flag, system loss.
Templates are saved per workspace and shared across the team.
Run
Click Run analysis. Atlas computes the panel layout, draws the panels on the map, and calls PVGIS to estimate annual production.
Reading the result
A summary card shows:
- Total number of panels — count after applying corridors, exclusions, and edge buffers.
- Ground coverage ratio — fraction of the site occupied by panels.
Click Open report to see the full PVGIS output: monthly production, capacity factor, system efficiency, and irradiation curves. Click Save as dataset to persist the panel polygons as a new vector layer in your project.
Limits and notes
- The site must be a polygon. Lines and points are not supported.
- Panel 3D rendering is available for the standard module configurations (3-, 9-, and 10-module-per-length frames). Other configurations skip the 3D preview.
- Production estimates come from the European Commission's PVGIS service and are subject to its coverage and accuracy.
- This tool is not the same as SolarEye, which detects existing solar panels in aerial imagery rather than planning new ones.