When to use the Shading analysis
When placing panels, it isn't obvious at a glance which roof areas are in the shade. Before you place a single panel, the Shading analysis shows which areas of a roof are shaded by surrounding roofs, buildings and obstacles – whether you're planning a new layout or reviewing an existing one. The roof's orientation is not taken into account, so only compare areas of the same roof. The analysis does not change the calculated yield.
For what the shading factor actually means, how it's calculated and how to include shading in the yield, see Understanding the Shading Factor: Its Importance and Calculation. This article covers how to operate the tool in the 3D Panel Layout.
Prerequisites
At least one roof must be drawn in the 3D Panel Layout. The Shading analysis icon appears in the panel tool (previous interface: Panel field tool; new interface: switch to Panels, and only in the 2D view)
Enabling the Shading analysis
In the 3D Panel Layout toolbar, click the Shading analysis icon
A control panel opens with a colour-gradient legend from 0% to 20% at the bottom
The Display PV-panel shading factor in % (2D view) checkbox in the control panel is ticked from the start: in the 2D view, the percentage values then appear directly on the panels once you zoom in close enough. Untick it to hide them
Interpreting shading
The colour scale runs from yellow (0%, little shading) through pink to purple (20% and above, heavy shading), so you can see at a glance which areas of a roof are least shaded.
2D view: both roof and individual panel colours are shown
3D view: only the roof colours are visible – suited to a broad overview of the whole roof
When you move panels or create new panel fields, Eturnity recalculates the panel values as soon as you let go. You change the roof and obstacles with other tools; this turns the analysis off, and when you turn it on again, it calculates with the new state. Panels themselves aren't treated as obstacles for each other, so on a flat roof without surrounding obstacles, panels won't shade each other just from being close together. See Understanding the Shading Factor: Its Importance and Calculation for details.
Taking trees and neighbouring buildings into account
The Shading analysis only evaluates roofs and obstacles that are drawn in the 3D Panel Layout, including those imported from an AirTeam model. Trees or buildings in an uploaded 3D model do not count; in the 3D view they do cast visible shadows, but that is only for display. There is no separate tool for trees, and obstacles can only be drawn on a roof. This is how you recreate trees and neighbouring buildings:
Draw a neighbouring building as a roof next to the house and a tree as a small roof roughly the size of its crown, with the Roof tool (new interface: Draw roof, in Basic Mode the Building switch). Start outside the house roof: a line that starts at a corner or edge of the house roof splits the house roof
In Pro Mode, set the actual height in millimetres with the Roof height tool (new interface: Roof height), so 8000 for an 8 m tall tree. In Basic Mode, no height can be set
Switch back to the panel tool (previous interface: Panel field tool; new interface: switch to Panels) and turn the Shading analysis on again; it calculates with the new state
This shading does not change the calculated yield either. Enter the loss as a percentage on the Shading / snow losses page.
Adjusting panel opacity
Use Panel opacity in the toolbar to make panels semi-transparent, so you can see the roof's shading heatmap underneath the panels. Eturnity hides the percentage values on the panels when you do this. To see both, tick Display PV-panel shading factor in % (2D view) in the control panel again. Clicking Panel opacity again restores full opacity and shows the values again.
Disabling the Shading analysis
Click the Shading analysis icon in the toolbar again, or close the control panel via its close icon. Switching to another tool also turns it off.
When data is missing
If data required for the calculation wasn't available, fallback data is used automatically and a corresponding notice is shown – results may then be less precise. The data refreshes once you reload the page or navigate back to the 3D Panel Layout. If the issue persists, contact Eturnity support or via chat in the Help Center in Eturnity Expert.