Tracker SAT/PV Simulation & Analysis
Pre-feasibility 📰 Blog 🏆 References

SOLAR TRACKER DESIGN & FEASIBILITY SOFTWARE · SIMULATE. COMPARE. DECIDE.

BTR Enerji İstanbul, Türkiye GES

Evaluate your site's energy potential with engineering data.

NEW SITE ANALYSISAwaiting inputs

A better investment.
From every angle.

Explore single-axis tracking for your site. Compare production, estimate equipment needs and assess your return on investment.

  • Free, no sign-up
  • Hourly weather data
  • 25-year financial analysis
  • Bill of materials and PDF report
TRACKER SAT · 1P PORTRAIT · 3D SCHEMATIC VIEW (drag to rotate)
01Define your site

Location, area and module selection

02Compare systems

Hourly production and annual gain

03Share your report

Equipment and investment summary

Reference projects by our group companies 20 projects · 6 countries All references →
Northern Italy 12 MW Tracker Electronics Retrofit South-East Italy 8 MW Tracker PV Plant Central Italy 8 MW Tracker PV Plant Central-East Italy 3.6 MW Tracker PV Plant
01

Site & Location

Select a location and define the site boundary.

İstanbul, Türkiye
Click the map to set the location
🌳 Shading Obstacles Drag onto the map, or select and click the map
02

System Parameters

Configure equipment for your project.

Auto-fill using "Draw Site Boundary" on the map, or enter it manually.

Default: JinkoSolar Tiger Neo JKM710N-66HL5-BDV-Z6-EU

⚙️ Advanced Settings

The AC power allowed by your grid connection agreement. If given, DC capacity is capped at about 1.3× this limit (any remaining land is left empty), inverters are sized to it and production above the limit is clipped.

In row-level mode each tracker rotates according to its neighbour's height difference; reduces row-to-row shading on undulating sites (requires a TCU per table).

If you have a surveyor / drone survey, upload it: slope, row height differences, backtracking and earthworks are computed from it instead of satellite data. GeoTIFF (DTM), DXF (survey plan with elevations) or CSV (E, N, Z). Select the site on the map first.

otomatik

Moving the slider updates table count/land utilization instantly (preview); press Run Analysis to see the shading-loss effect.

Weather data are hourly means and miss short gusts. Open terrain ~1.4–1.6; rough / wooded terrain 1.7+.

Safety strip between the fence and the first row; if the site is larger than these spacings, roads are left for cleaning, crane and maintenance vehicles (0 = none). Road area is added to the bill of materials.

String length (module voltage on the coldest morning) is calculated from this; the table length is an exact multiple of the string, so no DC jumper cables between tables are needed.

Net end-to-end gap between consecutive independent tables in a row - an UNVERIFIED, editable assumption to confirm with the manufacturer/site design. Affects table count (and financial results).

Between 0 (water) and 0.95 (fresh snow); if given, overrides Ground Type.

Fetches the site's real measured horizon profile from PVGIS; zeroes direct irradiance while the sun is below the horizon line. Requires an extra network request; silently skipped if PVGIS returns no data.

Check this box and enter your own values below to use them. If left unchecked, the system automatically increases winter albedo based on your site's real snow-cover climate data (Open-Meteo ERA5) - in snow-free regions your ground type's flat value is unaffected.

⏱️ Time-of-Use Tariff (Optional)

The Tracker's morning/evening "shoulder" production may coincide with peak (expensive) hours - in that case the kWh gain translates into an even higher USD gain. Leave blank to use the flat price (electricity_price).

💲 Pricing (Optional)

Note: price inputs are always in USD; results are automatically converted to the selected currency.

Land purchase is added to the year-0 investment, the lease to annual operating cost (both identical for tracker and fixed-tilt). I-REC: green certificate income per MWh produced; typically 0.3–1 $/MWh.

Varies hugely between countries (e.g. France ~0.06, Poland ~0.7). Replace with your site's real grid value for a binding ESG/carbon report.

🏭 Self-Consumption Analysis (Optional)

Enter the factory's constant electrical load to see how much of its bill the plant's production covers.

🔩 Real Panel/Inverter Catalog (Optional)

Selecting a real product from the NREL SAM / CEC database (2026 release, ~21,700 modules, ~2,300 inverters) switches the energy calculation from the generic linear model to the REAL panel/inverter datasheet parameters (full IV curve, temperature coefficients).

The manufacturer's PVsyst file (.PAN module, .OND inverter) works for any product; the calculation uses the same single-diode model as PVsyst.

🏢 Near-Shading Obstructions (Optional)

Drag trees, buildings, poles, hills etc. from the palette under the map and drop them anywhere on the site. Drag a placed obstacle to move it, click it to edit its height/width. Each obstacle blocks direct sun within its direction and angle as seen from the site (a simplified shadow block, not a real silhouette).

🔋 BESS Battery Dispatch Simulation (Optional)

Rule-based (not optimization) hourly SOC simulation: if a Self-Consumption load is given, charges from surplus/discharges on deficit; if Time-of-Use is active, discharges during peak hours (arbitrage).

🏦 Financing: Debt/Equity (Optional)

A GENERAL/simplified model - NOT binding tax/financial advice. If given, computes Equity IRR in addition to the existing unlevered/untaxed Project IRR.

Solar tracker design & feasibility software

Draw your land and let the software combine terrain slope, hourly weather data, electrical design and financial assumptions to compare a tracker and a fixed-tilt plant at the same installed capacity.

Terrain-aware backtracking

Slope-aware backtracking row by row or site-wide, from axis tilt and row-to-row height differences; upload your own topographic survey (DEM, GeoTIFF, DXF).

Hourly yield and P50/P90

8,760-hour pvlib simulation with PVGIS/ERA5 data; bifacial gain, temperature, soiling, wind stow and multi-year P50/P75/P90.

Automatic site layout

Layout with catalogue tracker tables, boundary setbacks and service roads; string length from the site's minimum temperature, inverters sized for the DC/AC ratio.

Automated solar BOM

Modules, tables, piles, TCU/NCU, inverters, DC/AC cables, transformer, SCADA and site preparation, taken from the actual site layout.

NPV, IRR, LCOE and payback

Lifetime cash flow, payback of the tracker's incremental investment and a price/yield sensitivity matrix.

Engineering deliverables

At quotation stage our engineers prepare a layered DXF site plan, pile coordinates with elevations and an earthwork assessment.

All features → · 📄 Sample 10 MWp feasibility report (PDF)

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is a Single-Axis Solar Tracker?

A single-axis tracker is a mounting system that rotates solar panels from east to west throughout the day around a north-south axis so they face the sun more directly. While a fixed-tilt system stays at one fixed angle, a tracker delivers a clear production advantage especially near sunrise and sunset ("shoulder hours") - exactly when a fixed system is weakest.

Why Can a Fixed System Sometimes Be Better in Winter?

In winter, the sun's path is lower and days are shorter; in some geographies and dates, a fixed system's static angle can coincidentally match the sun better than the tracker's angle at that moment. In our monthly production chart, the tracker falling below the fixed system in some winter months is therefore not an error - the annual gain is not evenly distributed across seasons; the tracker's real advantage shows up over the full year, especially in shoulder hours.

How Does Bifacial Panel Compatibility With a Tracker Work?

Bifacial panels convert light reflected from the ground into electricity from their rear side as well as their front. Because a tracker holds panels at a set height above the ground and changes their angle throughout the day, it can capture ground-reflected light more effectively than a fixed system - this "bifacial gain" is calculated as a separate line item in our simulation and varies with ground albedo (reflectivity).

What Is LCOE (Levelized Cost of Energy)?

LCOE is a standard financial metric showing the true cost of every kWh a solar system produces - calculated by dividing total investment (CAPEX) plus operating costs (OPEX) by the total (discounted) energy the system will produce over its lifetime. A lower LCOE means a lower cost per unit of energy, and it's used to fairly compare different systems (e.g. tracker vs. fixed).

How Reliable Is This Simulation - Does It Replace a Real Engineering Project?

This tool is a pre-feasibility/decision-support tool that runs on real weather data and physical models (pvlib) - it does NOT replace a site visit, detailed shading analysis, a real electrical design, or a geotechnical survey. Results are indicative, meant to support your investment decision; for a binding proposal or final engineering design, contact BTR Enerji's engineering team.

Model & assumptions

Pre-feasibility estimates. The tracker model includes the site's north-south slope (axis tilt), slope-aware backtracking and height differences between neighbouring rows (elevation model or your uploaded topographic survey); it is not a full 3D shading analysis. Wind stow is applied when the hourly mean wind, converted to a 3-second gust with the gust factor, exceeds the threshold (default 18 m/s). String length is derived from the site's minimum temperature and the table length is an exact multiple of the string. The Fixed-Tilt system is modelled at the SAME installed capacity (kWp) with its own winter-solstice row spacing; bifacial rear gain and row-to-row shading are computed the same way for both systems. Module-glass reflection losses (IAM) and MV transformer losses are included. Financial outputs use default prices or your input prices. In the monthly chart, the Tracker falling below Fixed-Tilt in some winter months is not an error - the annual gain is not evenly distributed across seasons.