Interactive simulator · Utility-scale PV · Single-axis trackers

Solar Farm Simulator

A synthetic utility-scale PV plant seen from the air: single-axis trackers follow the sun with backtracking and wind stow, shadows move through the day, and production follows plane-of-array irradiance. Pick a fault, watch it break the chain, then follow the support path in the same order every time: modem, logger, RS-485 and meter, production. Each step shows the check, what the technician sees, the finding, and the guide or tool that covers it. Week mode runs the healthy site through seven days of weather (sun, clouds, dust, a thunderstorm, rain, fog and wind) with a weekly actual-vs-expected chart.

Single-axis trackersWeather weekPOA irradiance & METTicket triagePing & DNSLocal buffering & backfillRS-485 / ModbusExpected vs actualData cleaning

Independent prototype with synthetic data Sites, tickets and numbers are fictional and match the sample data in Relay Desk and PulseAssist. Generic equipment, simplified solar and irradiance models, no vendor wiring, terminal maps, voltages or real site data.

Prefer the simple schematic? Open the Troubleshooting Path Simulator →

SiteOak-12 (sample)

Local time12:30

PortalOnline

Logger buffer0 records

Power vs expected— MW

Sun elev. · azimuth—

Tracker · target—

POA · GHI—

Wind—

Module temp—

Time of day Day cycle Passing clouds High-wind stow

Tip: select any component in the diagram to see what it does.

Week mode synthetic weather

Pick a day or play the week.

Expected from MET POA (clean reference)Actual at the revenue meterRest of the selected day

Why the same order every time

Support walks the chain backwards from the portal. Each stop answers one question, costs nothing but a few minutes at the desk, and rules out everything upstream of it before anyone talks about a truck roll.

Modem / connectivityIs the site talking at all? Last check-in, signal, registration, ping to the modem. If the path is down, nothing downstream can be judged from the portal.
LoggerIs the logger alive, polling and stamping the right time? Is data waiting in its local buffer? A buffered outage becomes a backfill, not a gap.
RS-485 / meterDoes every device answer its poll? Address, serial settings, polarity and termination explain most silent devices. The revenue meter at the point of interconnection and the PCS sum should agree within normal losses.
ProductionOnly now judge the number: actual vs expected from MET POA irradiance, then tracker angles, per PCS and per combiner. Soiling, clouds, a stuck tracker, an inverter fault or an open combiner each leave a different pattern.

Everything this simulator pulls together

Each link of the chain points to a page or tool already in the portfolio.

SchematicTroubleshooting Path SimulatorThe same five original tickets on a simple schematic site: modem, logger, RS-485 bus, meter and portal. TriageRelay DeskSample ticket queue. NW-1842 “Oak-12 production looks low” uses the same modem → logger → RS-485 → production order. DiagnosticsPulseAssistMonitoring support lab: alarms, check-ins and expected-vs-actual views for synthetic sites. ModemNetworks roadmapIP, ICMP, DNS and TCP: what a failed ping or lookup actually tells you. ModemWindows CMD guideping, nslookup, tracert and w32tm with output you can read at the desk. LoggerEdge node & bufferingWhy local storage turns an outage into an ordered backfill instead of lost telemetry. RS-485Raspberry Pi labsModbus RTU meter reader, outage-proof buffer and uptime monitor, all with synthetic data. HardwareHardware troubleshootingModem, logger, RS-485, meter and inverter fault cards with escalation triggers. ProductionSolar monitoring desk guideScoping the ticket, reading alarms and judging production before dispatch. DataData cleaning pipelineDuplicates, gaps, CT-ratio errors and spikes flagged before data reaches a report. NetworkWireshark & NmapWhen ping is not enough: handshakes, resets and open ports on the wire.

Scope

This is an independent portfolio prototype built with synthetic data. The site, devices, tickets and values are fictional, and the aerial view is a generic teaching model with simplified sun, tracker and irradiance maths, not a drawing of any real plant or product. Remote support checks shown here are desk checks: anything inside an energized enclosure is for qualified field staff following the manufacturer’s documentation and the site’s safety procedures.