Solar Engineering 101 covers how a site and a target system size become a buildable, code-compliant design. It is aimed at people who need to read, review and coordinate engineering work — not only at engineers producing it.
What you will learn
- What each engineering discipline contributes and how engineering decisions affect every other stakeholder.
- How to read a single-line diagram and a full solar plan set.
- How equipment is selected, and what the trade-offs actually are.
- How site constraints become engineering inputs.
- Structural, civil, electrical and interconnection design considerations.
- The stages an engineered drawing set moves through, and what changes at each one.
- The codes and standards that govern solar design.
- Engineering QA/QC and constructability review — designing what can actually be built.
- How energy yield is modelled and what drives it.
- What a complete engineering handoff and closeout package contains.
Course outline — 26 lessons
- Solar Engineering: Purpose and Electrical Fundamentals
- Role of Engineering
- Different Types of Engineering
- How Engineering Impacts All Stakeholders
- Fundamentals of Engineering
- Solar Engineering Process
- Site Constraints and Engineering Inputs
- Site Constraint Review Template
- Solar System Architecture and Major Design Decisions
- Energy Yield, Losses and Uncertainty
- Codes, Standards and the Design Basis
- Equipment Selection Matrix
- Electrical and Interconnection Design Considerations
- Understanding a Single-Line Diagram
- Structural and Civil Engineering Considerations
- Engineered Drawing Stages
- Design Maturity and the Cost of Change
- Reading a Solar Plan Set
- Constructability Review: Designing What Can Be Built
- Design Review and QA/QC Checklist
- Engineering Review and QA/QC Checklist
- Engineering Handoff to Construction
- Engineering Coordination and Design Change Management
- Commissioning and Engineering Acceptance
- As-Builts, Closeout and Final Engineering Documentation
- Applied Engineering Review and Next Steps
Who this course is for
Engineers new to solar from other disciplines. Developers, project managers and construction staff who have to review or act on a plan set. Anyone who needs to know whether a design is ready to build.
What you need to know first
No solar-specific background required. Comfort with basic electrical concepts helps but is not assumed.
What comes next
Solar Construction 101 takes the design into the field. PVSyst goes deeper on production modelling.
The course is free. Create an account to start.