uk-solar-planner

name

uk-solar-planner

description

Plan UK ground-mounted (utility-scale) solar farms end-to-end: site suitability, tilt and inter-row spacing, array capacity and annual yield, 3D layout with shadow review, generation forecasting, and DNO grid-connection feasibility. Use whenever a task involves a UK solar farm / solar site / ground-mount PV array — assessing a field or parcel for solar, sizing MW capacity, choosing panel tilt or row spacing, estimating kWh/yield or land use, visualising an array layout, checking inter-row shading, forecasting generation, or grid-connection pre-checks. UK-specific (latitude, ALC land grades, DNO); not for rooftop domestic PV or non-UK sites without adjustment.

UK Ground-Mounted Solar Planner

An end-to-end planner for UK utility-scale ground-mount solar, composing our qgis and blender skills with public solar data (PVGIS), UK-tuned forecasting (Open Climate Fix quartz), and OpenDSS grid modelling. It turns a site (coordinates + area) into a defensible capacity, yield, layout, and grid-feasibility picture.

The pipeline (run in order; each stage feeds the next)

#	Stage	Tool / skill	Status here
1	Site suitability — slope/aspect, ALC land grade, flood zone, grid proximity	qgis skill + references/grid-and-planning.md	works (qgis sidecar)
2	Tilt + spacing + capacity + yield — the engineering core	tools/solar_optimize.py (+ pvgis_fetch.py)	works now (stdlib + live PVGIS)
3	3D layout + shadow review — array on terrain, inter-row winter shadows	tools/blender_solar_array.py (blender skill)	works (blender / gui-tools sidecar)
4	Generation forecast — 0–48h UK-tuned generation curve	tools/sidecar_run.sh forecast … (quartz)	needs sidecar rebuild¹
5	DNO grid feasibility — voltage rise, thermal, hosting capacity	OpenDSS MCP (register on demand)	needs sidecar rebuild¹

¹ Stages 4–5 use Python deps nix can't cleanly package (quartz pulls ML weights at runtime; opendssdirect vendors a compiled engine), so they're baked into the FHS gui-tools sidecar. Bring them online with ./agentbox.sh gui-tools rebuild then ./agentbox.sh gui-tools up. Stages 1–3 need no rebuild.

Stage 2 — the engineering core (start here for any sizing question)

python3 tools/solar_optimize.py --lat 52.2 --lon -1.5 --area-ha 20 --tilt land

Computes, from first principles (see references/siting-engineering.md for the cited formulas): the winter-solstice no-shade row pitch and GCR, the tilt (either the PVGIS per-module optimum ~38–43°, or the land-optimised ~25–35° that maximises kWh/hectare), the module count and DC capacity, the annual yield (live PVGIS PVcalc), and the land-use ratio sense-checked against the DESNZ 2024 fleet band (1.88–2.7 ha/MW). It emits warnings when a result falls outside real-world bounds (e.g. GCR too dense) rather than silently returning an optimistic number.

tools/pvgis_fetch.py is the standalone PVGIS client (annual/monthly yield + PVGIS's own optimal tilt/azimuth) — stdlib, no deps.

Stage 3 — 3D layout + shadow review (leverages the blender skill)

# headless GPU-capable, or run in the gui-tools sidecar:
blender --background --factory-startup --python tools/blender_solar_array.py -- \
  '{"rows":8,"modules_per_row":24,"tilt_deg":30,"row_pitch":9.9,"sun_altitude_deg":15,"render":true}'

Builds the racked array on a ground plane, reports GCR/footprint, and (with a sun at the winter-solstice noon altitude, 90 − lat − 23.44) casts the inter-row shadows that set the row pitch. Feed row_pitch/tilt from Stage 2. See the blender skill for GPU/sidecar execution and rendering.

Stages 4–5 — forecast + grid (sidecar)

tools/sidecar_run.sh forecast 52.2 -1.5 14420 30 180   # lat lon kWp tilt orientation → 0–48h curve

Grid feasibility uses the OpenDSS MCP server (baked in the sidecar); register it on demand for native tools, or script it via tools/sidecar_run.sh python …. references/grid-and-planning.md covers UK DNO connection (G99, LV/11kV/33kV by capacity), what a first-pass OpenDSS model needs, planning (ALC "Best & Most Versatile" avoidance, NSIP/DCO >50 MW), and SEG export economics.

References

• references/siting-engineering.md — tilt/GCR/PVGIS formulas, UK yield bands, GIS inputs (all cited).
• references/grid-and-planning.md — DNO connection, OpenDSS pre-check, UK planning + ALC, SEG.

Attribution

PVGIS (EU JRC, free public API). quartz-solar-forecast (Open Climate Fix, MIT). opendss-mcp-server (MIT) wrapping EPRI OpenDSS. All engineering figures are cited to primary sources in the references; the optimiser and layout tools are original implementations of standard, non-proprietary methods.