Sheds in PVsyst

In PVsyst, we name "shed" a table or row of tables, when it is organized as an array (one shed behind the other).

A particular case is the "unlimited sheds", which is an orientation kind. This is a system of sufficienly long sheds so that we can neglect the edge effects. The unlimited sheds also suppose a continuous row of PV modules, without spacings between tables.

This hypothesis is useful for the calculation of the shading factor (mutual shadings from one shed to the next one) in a very simple way. This is a two-dimensional calculation, on the basis of the Profile angle. For each sun position, the shading factor results of a simple calculation involving the collector width, the plane tilt and the pitch between rows. The number of sheds is also necessary, as the first shed doesn't have shadings.

The Unlimited sheds hypothesis is namely used for the calculation of the bifacial systems. The calculation is also performed in 2D. Considering the ground as a single line, we can perform a detailed view factor calculations for some positions on the ground between two sheds. The bifacial model presently available in PVsyst is based on this hypothesis.

NB: the "shed" denomination is probably specific to PVsyst. It is derived from a french expression describing a factory shed.