The Detailed Project Report
Export ▾ ▸ Export Detailed Project Report writes a Word document — what it contains in order, what the drawing shows, the PDF with piles, and the rest of the Export menu.
The Detailed Project Report is the document the rest of a project is run from:
a written overview and methodology, the design basis, the results, the energy
yield and loss analysis, and then the drawing annexures — the site layout
plan, the design summary, the single-line diagram, the bill of materials and
the energy drawings — in one file. It is a Word document (.docx), so the
narrative can be edited, stamped and issued in your own document system after
export.
It is written from Export ▾ ▸ Export Detailed Project Report. What it contains depends on how much of the design you have completed: the report writes what exists. An energy calculation you have not run is a section that is absent, with no placeholder.
The Export menu
Export ▾ sits beside Save project at the right of the view tabs, in every view, and holds the plant's file exports. See Views for the header it belongs to.
| Item | Produces | Available |
|---|---|---|
| (amber row) Inputs changed since the last run. Regenerate first. | — | Shown only while the layout is out of date; every item below it is then disabled |
| Export KMZ | The Google Earth file — see Google Earth export | After a layout whose site location is known. On a site continued as layout only the item reads Export KMZ — location unknown and is disabled |
| Export DXF | The layered CAD drawing — see CAD drawing export | After a layout |
| Export ICR-Block DXF | One CAD drawing set: the whole plant with a table of blocks, then one sheet per ICR block with its summary table | Once inverters are placed |
| Export ICR-Block PDF | One A3 PDF: the whole plant with every block in its colour and a table, then one sheet per block with its key plan and details — see ICR blocks | Once inverters are placed |
| Export Cable Schedule (Excel) | A workbook with one sheet per ICR block: the DC strings, the AC feeders or DC trunks, and the collection runs to the transformers and the main control room — see The cable schedule | After a layout with control rooms; Calculate cables is not required |
| Export Detailed Project Report | The Word document described on this page | After a layout |
| Export PDF (with Piles) | The PDF report with the pile drawing and coordinates | Shown only while Piles is on and a pile pattern exists |
| Export Image (PNG) | The plot as it is on screen, as an image file | After a layout |
The menu's exports need active access, and all are disabled while a run is in progress. See Activating access.
Nothing exports from a layout that is out of date. When any input has changed since the layout was generated, the amber row heads the menu and every item is disabled, Export Image (PNG) included. The layout's exports outside the menu — the bill of materials and diagram exports, the pile Excel, the TMY data CSV and an ICR block window's PDF… — are refused the same way, with the status-bar message "Inputs changed since the last run. Regenerate first." Change the value back, or click Regenerate Layout, and the menu comes back. See Out-of-date results.
The status line confirms each export — "Document exported: …" for the report, "PDF exported: …" for the PDF with piles, "ICR-block PDF exported (n pages): …", "ICR-block DXF exported (n block sheets + plant): …" and "Cable schedule exported (n ICR-block sheets): …".
Some exports live elsewhere because they belong to a tool: the bill of materials and the single-line diagram have their own buttons on their tools panels, the pile editor has Export to Excel…, the Yield tab has Export TMY data CSV, and an ICR block's summary window has PDF… for that block's sheet alone. The Earthing Design window writes its own PDF report, DXF and bill-of-quantities CSV, and the Robot count from DXF window its own PDF — none of them is on this menu.
The document
Choose Export ▾ ▸ Export Detailed Project Report and the Save Word Document dialog asks where to put the file. The document is A3 landscape throughout, with 12 mm margins and the footer "Rensaar Private Limited — Detailed Project Report" on every page.
Exporting is a read of the current session. It adds nothing to the plant and changes nothing, so you can export as often as you like while you work.
The content, in order
| Section | What it carries | Present when |
|---|---|---|
| Cover page | The document's identity | Always |
| Project Overview & Methodology | What the design is and how it was produced | Always |
| Design Basis — Input Parameters | The inputs the layout was produced under | Always |
| Results & Analysis — Output | What the layout produced — the placed plant's figures | Always |
| Energy Yield & Loss Analysis | The yield, the performance ratio and its losses | Only when an energy calculation has been run |
| Site Layout Plan | The engineering drawing of the plant — see below | Always |
| Design Summary | The layout summary, the design parameters and the inverter and cable summary as a drawing sheet, with the design warnings when there are any | Always |
| Single Line Diagram | Your diagram on its sheet, as you built it in the SLD view — or the automatic diagram when you have not built one | Always |
| Bill of Materials | The materials list, paginated (i/n) across as many pages as it needs | Always |
| Energy Yield — Drawings | Two figures when monthly data exists, otherwise one | Only when an energy calculation has been run |
The design basis section is the reason the document matters even when the drawing is the deliverable: it records the inputs the drawing was produced under, so a design issued today can be reconciled with one revisited months later. Its structures table includes the arrester height and pile Ø, which are recorded but have no effect on the design.
The drawing annexures are the same pages the PDF export draws, so the images on this page — taken from the PDF with piles — show what the Word document's annexures look like.
The site layout plan
The layout itself, drawn to fill the sheet, inside a drawing border with a north arrow at the top right, a plant-details table and a title block.
What the drawing shows and hides is fixed, whatever the Layers popover is set to. When the drawing is written the application hides the DC, AC and MV cables and the arrester protection circles, forces the arrester rectangles and their labels visible, draws the page, then puts your on-screen state back as it was. Three consequences:
- Cables are never on the drawing page. A cable drawing comes from the CAD drawing export or the cable schedule, not from the report.
- Arresters always appear, on any run that placed them — including a run where you had the Lightning arresters layer off and saw none on screen. The rectangles are their footprints, and a footprint is buildable information.
- The coverage circles never appear. The protection-radius circles are an on-screen review aid only. If a lightning-protection review needs them, it has to be done on screen. See Lightning arresters.
The design summary
Three blocks on one sheet: the layout summary, the design parameters that produced it, and the inverter and cable summary with its per-ICR breakdown — cable lengths attributed to each inverter control room rather than only totalled for the plant. That is the figure a trenching estimate is built from, because it tells you where the length is, not only how much of it there is. See Cable routing.
The cable figures exist only if Calculate cables on the Electrical tab was ticked for the run that produced the layout. With cable calculation off, the sheet is still written and the cable entries read as not computed.
Design warnings. When the design falls outside a design rule — the same warnings the Summary view's banner lists — the sheet gains a block headed DESIGN WARNINGS (N), a table of Plant · Check · Found, one row per warning; the plant-average voltage-drop check reads Whole site in the plant column. A clean design leaves the sheet as it is. Each check is explained on Design warnings.
Estimated DC trench. On a plot of more than 30 000 tables the DC cabling is drawn for a sample of clusters and the DC trench is scaled from it to every table. The report marks that figure "(est.)" — in the DC / AC / MV trench row, for example "12,345 (est.) / … / … m", and in the per-plot and total columns of the PDF summary page. Quote it as an estimate.
The single-line diagram
Your diagram, on its sheet, exactly as you built it in the SLD view; with no diagram stored, the report builds the automatic one for the page. A stored diagram is rebuilt only when you choose Automatic in the SLD view, so choose it again before exporting if the layout or the ACCB & Transformer card has changed since. On a large plant the diagram is emitted on a physically larger sheet — A3 to A1 to A0 — while the drawing itself keeps A3 proportions, so a dense diagram stays legible when printed rather than being crushed onto one A3 sheet. See Exporting the diagram.
The bill of materials
The materials list, paginated across as many pages as it needs; nothing is
truncated to fit. What is written is the list as it currently stands in the
BOM view, edits included — and, if you have replaced it with a template, the
template's rows. Rows a design warning qualifies carry its Check: remark.
After a Generate, an ACCB & Transformer card change or a new inverter file,
the next visit to the BOM view recomputes the list and discards hand edits, so
make BOM edits last. See Bill of materials.
The energy sections
Energy Yield & Loss Analysis and Energy Yield — Drawings are present only when an energy calculation has been run. No calculation, no energy sections — that is the only condition, and nothing else gates them. The drawings section carries two figures when monthly data exists and one otherwise. See How yield is calculated.
Export PDF (with Piles)
The report itself exists as a PDF in one case: while the pile overlay is on and a pile pattern exists, Export ▾ gains Export PDF (with Piles). It is the PDF report with every table's own piles drawn on the layout — the full pattern on full tables, the half pattern on half tables — labelled with their easting and northing, and page one is rendered at 300 dpi so that a setting-out crew can resolve individual piles within a table. Expect a large file. Define the pattern first; see Piles. The other PDF on the menu, Export ICR-Block PDF, is a drawing set of the blocks, not the report.
Every page is A3 landscape, in this order:
| Page | What it carries |
|---|---|
| 1 | The engineering drawing — layout, border, north arrow at the top right, title block and plant-details table — with the piles |
| 2 | The summary: layout summary, design parameters, the inverter and cable summary with the per-ICR breakdown, a Piles column, and the DESIGN WARNINGS (N) block when there are warnings |
| 3 | The single-line diagram — skipped silently if it cannot be drawn |
| 4… | The bill of materials, paginated |
| last | The energy pages, only when energy was calculated: two pages with monthly data, otherwise one |
A missing diagram page is not a failed export: the rest of the report is still written. If the diagram matters, open the file and confirm the page is there.
The file's own properties name it: the title is "SolarLayout.Desktop Report" and the subject "Automated PV layout summary", so it is identifiable in a document management system without opening it.
Before you export
Each of the steps below adds content to the report. Doing them in this order means one export rather than four.
Generate the layout
Nothing exports without a placed plant, and nothing exports while the layout is out of date — if the button reads Regenerate Layout, click it. Turn Calculate cables on for the run if you want cable lengths in the summary and the per-ICR breakdown.
Calculate energy
Calculate Energy on the Yield tab is what makes the energy sections exist. Every Generate that replaces the layout clears the energy result, so calculate energy after the last Generate. See Weather data.
Build the diagram
Open the SLD tab and choose Automatic, then edit it, or draw it yourself. Choose Automatic again after any change to the layout or the transformer grouping. See Building a diagram from the plant.
Check the materials list
Open the BOM tab, rebuild it once against the finished plant, and correct what needs correcting — because whatever is in it is what prints.
Export
Choose Export ▾ ▸ Export Detailed Project Report — and Export PDF (with Piles) as well if you have defined a pile pattern and switched Piles on.
What the report does not do
- It does not stamp or certify anything. The title block and the plant-details table identify the drawing; they are not an approval record.
- It does not version itself. Nothing tracks revisions for you. Manage that in the file name and in the document after export.
- It is not the CAD deliverable. The drawing page is a picture of the layout, not a layered drawing an engineering team can work in. For that, use the CAD drawing export.
Where to go next
Materials list templates
The built-in reference materials list offered for your design, how to open it in its own window, and the action that replaces the computed list with it.
Google Earth export
The layout written as a Google Earth file — one folder per plant, the summary placemark, what the file leaves out, and how to check the design against real ground.