Platform Features
Every step from raw terrain to bankable design
PVX.AI covers the full utility-scale solar workflow inside AutoCAD: terrain import and analysis, grading with roads and erosion control, layout, electrical design, battery storage, design review, and exports that feed PVsyst, construction, and stakeholders. Nine capability areas, one connected system.
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Terrain & Site Intelligence
Import KML, drone LAS/LAZ, CSV points, or contours. Analyze hydrology, soil compaction, and directional slopes before design begins.
Grading, Roads & Erosion
Three ways to grade: whole areas, pads under each rack, or only the ground under failing piles. Roads and erosion control engineered in the same run. $727K saved on one project.
Layout & Racking
Fixed, East-West, and tracker racks including terrain-following trackers and multi-row groups. Dynamic shading pitch, capacity iteration, PVcase import, one-pass auto design.
Electrical Design
Stringing presets, PVsyst string-sizing checks, voltage-drop-sized cabling, trunk-bus designs, IEC trench engineering with cross-section sheets, and IEC-60617 single line diagrams.
Battery Storage (BESS)
Code-aware container placement with NFPA 855 and IFC citations, augmentation planning, pad grading, fire lanes, and noise contours.
Design Review
Collision analysis scans every rack against the terrain and fixes what it can in one click. A 0-100 health check and IEC 62305-3 lightning coverage close out the review.
Assessment & Yield Reports
Submit a completed PVX.Cad design for a queued PDF assessment with project risks, P50/P90 yield, BESS, and financial analysis.
Exports & PVsyst Integration
PAN and OND import, PVCollada 2.0 export with full electrical hierarchy, BoQ, pile procurement workbooks, Google Earth KML, web publish.
Works Inside AutoCAD
Native plugin for AutoCAD 2021 through 2027. Five interface languages, metric and imperial units, guided onboarding, in-app AI assistant.
Terrain & Site Intelligence
PVX.AI imports terrain from whatever source your site data exists in: Google Earth KML/KMZ with automatic georeferencing, drone LAS/LAZ point clouds, TXT/CSV elevation points, or contours already drawn in AutoCAD. Once terrain is loaded, hydrology, soil compaction, and directional slope analysis show what the ground will do to your design before you place a single rack.
- KML/KMZ import with automatic georeferencing and a live satellite base map.
- Hydrology analysis: drainage channels, flow direction, and transformer placement suitability zones.
- Soil compaction hardness map with a driving and pull-out value breakdown table.
- Directional slope maps (N-S and E-W) and contour generation from the same surface.
- 3D scene objects (trees, structures, HV lines) for accurate shading obstructions.
Grading, Roads & Erosion Control
PVX.AI grades three ways, matched to the problem: area grading smooths a whole PV area to slope targets with cut/fill balance control, pad grading cuts a level pad under each rack, and targeted terrain adaptation corrects only the ground under piles that miss their limits. Site roads are engineered in the same grading run, and erosion control is computed, not sketched. On one project, comparing three grading approaches cut earthwork volume 70%, from 118,000 m3 to 35,000 m3, saving $727K.
- Cut/Fill Ratio slider (balanced smoothing) or a Max Fill Height cap for a hard fill ceiling.
- Road generation from your site entrances: grading-aware routing, culverts sized from design rainfall, mass haul accounting.
- Erosion control with RUSLE soil loss and sized structures: check dams, sediment basins, swales, silt fence.
- Pile-adapted pad grading touches only the ground under tables that violate pile or clearance limits.
- Earthworks CSV export (NGL, FGL, difference), cut/fill map per triangle, and BoQ civil works integration.
Layout & Racking
PVX.AI places fixed-tilt, East-West, and single-axis tracker racks on real 3D terrain, including terrain-following trackers that bend at joints to follow rolling or steep ground. Row pitch can be fixed or calculated dynamically from sun position, slope limits are respected per direction, and Capacity Iteration sweeps spacing and tilt to hit a target capacity. Design Wizard builds a full concept design, tables, roads, cables, and equipment, in one pass.
- One rack catalog for fixed, East-West dome, and single- or multi-row tracker systems, with .pvxrack exchange between projects.
- Terrain-following trackers with a constraint-satisfying settle solver and a live simulation before placement.
- Multi-row tracker groups: drive shafts drawn, moved, and validated with the group.
- Dynamic Pitch, Capacity Iteration sweeps, and one-pass Design Wizard concept designs.
- Import PVcase designs as native PVX objects, terrain-following trackers and trees included.
Electrical Design
The five-step flow runs in one scrolling panel: build reusable stringing presets, scope the strings, configure the transformer and inverter hierarchy, place devices, then trench and cable. PVX.AI sizes every cable to a voltage-drop target, flags string-sizing issues against PVsyst rules as you go, and draws the completed design as an IEC-60617 single line diagram. On one project, comparing cable topologies cut cable runs 14% and saved $430K.
- Reusable stringing presets: Single Row, U-Stringing, Leap Frog, or fully custom patterns.
- PVsyst sizing badge checks cold Voc against max system voltage and hot/cool Vmp against the inverter MPPT window.
- Auto (cloud) or manual device placement, with trenches routed along service roads.
- Cables sized to a voltage-drop target under IEC or NEC, copper or aluminum, with true 3D draped lengths.
- IEC trench engineering: cable separation, trench lanes, derating from the drawn clearance, and construction-ready cross-section detail sheets.
- Trunk-bus and Y-harness eBOS designs built from a vendor parts catalog.
- One-click IEC-60617 single line diagram, aggregated or full detail, including BESS clusters.
Battery Storage (BESS)
PVX.AI designs utility-scale battery storage inside AutoCAD, alongside a PV plant or standalone. Container placement is checked against NFPA 855 and IFC rules with citation-level provenance, augmentation is planned with reserve pads from day one, and every pad is graded and fire-laned, with noise contours modeled around the site. The design carries through cabling, the single line diagram, yield, and the Bill of Quantities.
- Fire-code rule-sets: NFPA 855 (2020/2023/2026), IFC (2018/2021/2024), or manufacturer-only.
- Auto-placement preview with a validation badge before anything commits.
- Augmentation planner sizes future MWh and recommends reserve pads against transformer loading.
- Pad grading, fire lane regeneration, vegetation clearance rings, and 45/55/65 dBA noise contours.
- Runs standalone with zero PV areas, using the same workflow end to end.
Design Review
Before a drawing ships, PVX.AI reviews it the way the field will. Collision Analysis scans every rack against the terrain it stands on, judged by its own spec's reveal band, ground clearance, and slope limits, then fixes the fixable: one-click vertical shifts, a lift-and-grade design pass, and targeted terrain adaptation for the rest. Design Health Check scores the whole drawing 0 to 100, and lightning coverage is verified to IEC 62305-3.
- Per-rack constructability verdicts from measured pile heads, with a dated overlay in the drawing.
- One-click shift fixes; grading-required racks hand off to targeted terrain adaptation.
- Pile schedule CSV and run report exports for the structural reviewer.
- Design Health Check: 0-100 score with zoomable findings, HTML and CSV reports.
- Lightning masts with rolling-sphere coverage analysis per IEC 62305-3.
Assessment & Yield Reports
When the PVX.Cad design is complete, submit it to PVX.Assess as a queued cloud job. PVX.Assess evaluates the project risks and returns a comprehensive PDF with the layout study, monthly DC/AC energy, P50/P90 yield, Performance Ratio, capacity factor, BESS results, and financial analysis. Report generation can take up to 30 minutes.
- Final project assessment generated from the completed PVX.Cad design.
- Queued cloud submission with Queued, Running, and Completed status tracking.
- PDF report: monthly climate and production, specific yield, PR, capacity factor, loss diagrams.
- Financial analysis: NPV, IRR, LCOE, DSCR, and payback period.
- BESS results populated from the battery system in the completed design, where applicable.
Exports & PVsyst Integration
PVX.AI is built to feed PVsyst, the industry standard for yield simulation. Modules import from PAN files and inverters from OND files, and finished designs export as PVCollada, including PVC 2.0 with the full electrical hierarchy, 3D device bodies, and terrain mesh. Beyond PVsyst, PVX.AI exports the Bill of Quantities, pile procurement workbooks, cable schedules, Google Earth KML, and a shareable web viewer.
- PAN and OND import for modules and inverters, or manual entry.
- PVCollada 2.0 (.pvc2): full electrical hierarchy, 3D device bodies, terrain mesh, always in meters.
- Four-sheet Bill of Quantities (XLS): Main Equipment, Civil Works, Electrical System, Miscellaneous.
- Pile procurement workbook with live Excel formulas: Inputs, Pile Schedule, BoQ, Procurement.
- Google Earth KML export and one-click shareable web publish.
Works Inside AutoCAD
PVX.AI is a native AutoCAD plugin, not a separate application to learn. It runs in AutoCAD 2021 through 2027, in five interface languages, and reads the drawing's own unit system, metric or imperial, for every dialog, export, and report. An in-app AI assistant and guided onboarding help new users get productive in the environment your team already uses every day.
- Native plugin installed per machine for AutoCAD 2021 through 2027.
- Five interface languages, with metric and imperial unit support throughout.
- Guided onboarding for new users and teams switching from other CAD tools.
- In-app AI assistant for questions while you design.
- One file, one environment: terrain, grading, layout, electrical, and BESS in the same drawing.
See PVX.AI on your site data
Book a 30-minute demo with your terrain file. We run grading analysis, layout optimization, and a cable topology comparison live. Every demo includes a 2-week free trial.