Application Note

Row Spacing: Span-to-Rise, Ground Coverage Ratio,

and Time of Day
HelioScope offers a variety of methods to set the
spacing between rows of modules. The three
metrics (row spacing, span-to-rise, and ground
coverage ratio) are all connected, so changes to
one will automatically change the other two.
Additionally, the user can set module spacing based
on sun angles at a specific date and time (typically the winter solstice).

Span-to-Rise
The span-to-rise ratio is based on the front-to-back distance between modules, divided by the height at the
back of the module bank.
Span-to-Rise = (S) / (R)
Note that this metric is
sensitive to whether the bank
has multiple modules, or the Rise (R)
Span (S)
tilt of the module, since
either of these will increase the rise distance.

Ground Coverage Ratio (GCR)

The ground coverage ratio (GCR) describes the ratio of the
module area to the overall area of the array. In other
words, it described the proportion of the system area that
is used to collect sunlight.

In the image to the right, the GCR is the total module area
in 3d (approximately the blue area) divided by the yellow
area.

Time of Day
Row spacing can also be defined based on the sun angles at a specific date
and time range, typically the Winter Solstice from 10am to 2pm. This rule will
space the modules as close as possible while maintaining no shade during the
specified time window.

One advantage of this approach is that it is based on the sun angles for the
array’s specific location – therefore providing a rule that can be applied
uniformly on Projects across a range of locations.

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