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ENPhotovoltaic projects are increasingly developed in environments where shading effects can no longer be described using simplified assumptions. Urban surroundings, complex buildings, irregular terrain, nearby infrastructure, and hybrid land use all introduce geometric interactions that strongly affect irradiance distribution on PV systems. In these situations, shading is not only a source of energy losses but also a major contributor to uncertainty, directly influencing design choices, feasibility assessments, and bankability.
LuciSun provides technical advisory and advanced simulation services for projects affected by complex 3D shading. These studies are carried out by LuciSun experts using LuSim as a core modelling tool, allowing shading effects to be analysed explicitly in three dimensions when classical approaches reach their limits.
Accurate shading analysis requires an explicit representation of all relevant objects that can obstruct or partially block solar radiation. In LuSim, shading sources are modelled directly in 3D, including buildings, terrain, vegetation, support structures, nearby infrastructure, and other site-specific elements. Both static and dynamic objects can be represented, allowing shading patterns to evolve naturally over time without relying on predefined shading masks or simplified geometric abstractions.
This approach is particularly important when shading originates from complex or non-standard sources, such as urban environments, building-integrated PV (BIPV) systems, or infrastructure crossing a PV site. By preserving the full 3D geometry of the scene, LuSim captures spatial interactions that cannot be represented using two-dimensional projections or horizon-based methods.
To handle complex geometries efficiently, LuSim relies on GPU-based rasterisation techniques inspired by real-time 3D graphics. The PV scene is rendered from the point of view of the sun, and visibility between the sun and each discretised surface element is evaluated at high spatial resolution. This approach makes it possible to assess shading at the level of individual modules or sub-module regions while maintaining computational efficiency, even for large and geometrically complex scenes.
Compared to ray-tracing approaches, rasterisation provides a robust compromise between physical realism and scalability. It allows repeated visibility calculations to be performed efficiently and supports time-resolved analyses over long simulation periods, which is essential for realistic energy yield assessments in complex shading environments.
In many real-world cases, shading affects only part of a PV generator, leading to strong spatial heterogeneity in irradiance. Localised shading can trigger electrical mismatch, activate bypass diodes, and generate losses that are not proportional to the shaded area. LuSim explicitly resolves these local effects by discretising PV surfaces spatially and tracking irradiance variations across the system.
This level of detail is essential for understanding the true impact of partial shading, particularly in systems exposed to thin or distant shading objects, irregular terrain, or complex surroundings. Rather than relying on averaged shading factors, LuSim preserves local information that is critical for realistic performance assessment and design comparison.
Some shading sources vary rapidly over time and cannot be treated as static obstacles. This includes, for example, rotating elements such as wind turbine blades or other moving structures located near PV installations. These objects can cast fast-varying, partial shadows and penumbra effects that are difficult to approximate using conservative or static assumptions.
LuSim accounts for dynamic shading by explicitly updating the geometry of moving objects over time and evaluating their impact on irradiance distribution using the same 3D rasterisation framework. This makes it possible to analyse transient shading patterns and to assess their contribution to energy losses without resorting to overly pessimistic simplifications.
Thin linear objects such as power lines, cables, pylons, or similar infrastructure present a specific shading challenge. Although their physical dimensions are small, they can cast extended partial shadows that affect PV modules in a non-binary manner. These effects are highly sensitive to geometry, relative orientation, and distance, and are often poorly captured by simplified modelling approaches.
By representing such elements explicitly in 3D, LuSim allows partial shading and penumbra effects from thin objects to be evaluated realistically. This supports the assessment of localised losses and helps avoid unnecessary conservatism when shading affects only limited portions of a PV system, whether in ground-mounted plants or building-mounted installations.
Irregular terrain is a major driver of shading and self-shading effects in many PV projects. Slopes, elevation differences, embankments, and local terrain features can significantly modify sun visibility and mutual shading between rows. LuSim treats terrain explicitly in 3D, allowing shading interactions driven by complex topography to be captured without reducing the site to simplified slope parameters.
In addition to schematic terrain models, LuSim can integrate measured 3D data derived from LiDAR or drone-based surveys.
These datasets make it possible to represent real environments with high geometric fidelity, including terrain, vegetation, and nearby objects. Such representations are particularly valuable in early project phases, where realistic shading assessments can support layout feasibility studies and risk identification before detailed engineering is finalised.
Shading losses computed by LuSim are integrated consistently into the PV energy yield modelling chain. Direct, diffuse, and reflected irradiance components are evaluated coherently in the presence of complex shading, and their impact on electrical performance is assessed using validated PV performance models. This ensures that shading effects are propagated realistically into annual energy yield estimates, without relying on fixed loss assumptions or overly conservative correction factors.
The complex 3D shading approaches implemented in LuSim are routinely applied in LuciSun’s technical advisory studies, covering a wide range of real-world situations. These include utility-scale PV plants, building-integrated PV (BIPV) systems, vertical PV installations, hybrid wind–PV environments, and projects affected by complex surroundings or infrastructure constraints. The methodology has also been validated within the European Horizon Europe research project SERENDI-PV, through collaborative benchmarking and application to real installations, supporting confidence in its robustness and applicability.
Accurate modelling of complex 3D shading is not an end in itself. Its primary value lies in supporting informed technical and financial decisions when simplified assumptions are no longer sufficient.
By providing spatially and temporally resolved insight into shading mechanisms, LuSim enables LuciSun’s advisory studies to compare design options, identify mitigation strategies, and assess uncertainty in challenging project contexts where shading plays a critical role.
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