Glossary
The terms that appear inside solar software specifications, defined in plain language. Deliberately short — we would rather have 10 useful entries than a thousand thin ones.
8760 (hourly output)
An 8760 is an hour-by-hour simulation result for a full year — 8,760 hours. It shows when energy is produced rather than only how much, which is what battery sizing, time-of-use tariff modelling and self-consumption analysis all require.
AHJ (authority having jurisdiction)
The AHJ is the local body that reviews and approves an electrical installation — usually a city or county building department in the United States. Requirements differ between neighbouring jurisdictions, which is why permitting software maintains AHJ-specific requirement databases.
Bifacial
A bifacial module generates from both faces, capturing light reflected off the ground onto its rear. The extra yield depends on ground reflectivity, mounting height and row spacing, so modelling it requires a simulation that handles rear-side irradiance rather than a flat percentage uplift.
Interconnection
Interconnection is the utility’s approval to connect a generating system to the grid, and the process of obtaining it. It is separate from the building permit, runs on the utility’s timeline, and ends with permission to operate — the point at which a system may legally export.
MCS
MCS is the UK certification scheme for small-scale renewable installations. An MCS-certified installation is a precondition for several UK incentives, and MCS-compliant documentation — handover packs, commissioning certificates, declarations — is a distinct software capability in the UK market.
P50 and P90
P50 and P90 are confidence levels on a solar energy yield estimate. P50 is the output a system is expected to exceed in half of all years; P90 is the more conservative figure it should exceed in nine years out of ten. Lenders underwrite on P90, not P50.
PE stamp
A PE stamp is the seal of a licensed Professional Engineer certifying that a design meets structural or electrical code in a specific state. Many jurisdictions require one on a solar permit package. No software in this dataset produces a stamp automatically — every stamp is a human service.
Single-line diagram
A single-line diagram is a simplified electrical schematic showing how a PV system connects — modules, strings, inverters, disconnects, metering and the point of connection — on one line per circuit. Nearly every permit package requires one.
STC (small-scale technology certificate)
STCs are tradeable certificates created under Australia’s Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme when an eligible solar system is installed. They are typically assigned to the retailer as an upfront discount, and creating and trading them is a distinct category of Australian software.
TMY (typical meteorological year)
A TMY is a synthetic twelve-month weather dataset assembled from many real years, chosen so each month is typical rather than extreme. Solar simulations run against a TMY to produce a representative annual yield instead of replaying one unusually good or bad year.