DXF export
How to export your layout as DXF for AutoCAD-compatible engineering review.
DXF is the engineering hand-off. When the EPC's design team picks up your layout for civil scoping, pile coordinates, trench plans, or detailed electrical work, the DXF is what they open in AutoCAD, BricsCAD, or any DXF-compatible CAD tool.
Exporting the DXF
Open the Download tab
Below the canvas, switch to the Download tab in the bottom panel. After a layout finishes, the DXF row activates.
Pick a save location
The save dialog suggests <project>-<run>.dxf. Filesystem-illegal
characters in either name are mapped to -.
Wait
The DXF is built by the cloud rollup pass alongside the PDF and KMZ; saving it locally is a single presigned-URL fetch, usually under 5 seconds.
Hand off
Send the file to your engineering team. They open it in AutoCAD or their CAD tool of choice.
DXF layer structure
The exported DXF is organised into named layers so the recipient can toggle visibility, snap to specific feature types, and edit each category independently. Layer names are uppercase by convention.
| Layer | Always present | Contents | Default colour (ACI) |
|---|---|---|---|
BOUNDARY | Yes | Plant boundary polygons (one per plant). | Yellow (2) |
OBSTACLES | Yes | Exclusion zone polygons (water bodies, no-build zones). | Red (1) |
TABLES | Yes | Panel table footprints — one closed polyline per table. | Blue (5) |
ICR | Yes | ICR building footprints, with ICR-<index> labels on the ANNOTATIONS layer. | Cyan (4) |
OBSTRUCTIONS | Yes | User-drawn obstructions / internal roads. | Green (3) |
INVERTERS | Yes | String inverter / SMB footprints, with I<index> labels on the ANNOTATIONS layer. | Lime (83) |
ANNOTATIONS | Yes | All text labels (plant name, ICR-N, I-N, LA-N). | White (7) |
DC_CABLES | Only when cable routing ran | DC string cable polylines (MMS table → string inverter or SMB). | Orange (30) |
AC_CABLE_TRENCH | Only when cable routing ran | AC trench corridor polylines (MST route from inverters to ICR). | Magenta (6) |
LA | Only when LA placement ran | Lightning arrester footprints, protection circles, and LA-<index> labels. | Dark red / maroon (14) |
If cable routing or lightning arrester placement didn't run for this layout, the matching layers are not created at all (rather than being created empty). Your CAD tool's layer panel will show the set that actually has entities.
A note on the AC_CABLE_TRENCH layer: the geometry is the MST
corridor — the physical trench / tray route through the plant. The
per-inverter copper procurement BoM (sum of home-run distances per
inverter) is reported in the PDF and KMZ summary, not duplicated as
DXF geometry.
Units and coordinate system
- Units: metres. The DXF header is written with
$INSUNITS = 6(metres) and matches the layout engine's internal units exactly. - Coordinate system: UTM, in the zone (EPSG) computed per plant from its boundary's location. This means entities sit at real- world UTM coordinates (typically large numbers like <550000, 2400000>) — not centred on the origin.
The exporter sets the drawing extents and the model-space viewport when it writes the file, so AutoCAD, BricsCAD, and the common open- source viewers open with the layout centred on screen rather than showing a blank canvas at world-origin.
For engineering work that needs to tie back to surveyed coordinates, your team can re-project the DXF in their CAD tool using the UTM zone that matches the plant's location.
What's NOT in the DXF
The DXF is geometry only — it captures where things are, not what they are at an electrical-engineering level. The DXF does not include:
- Module electrical specs (DC capacity per table, voltage, current).
- Cable cross-sections — only routes are drawn, not size or rating.
- Inverter electrical parameters.
- Energy yield numbers.
- Setbacks, fence lines, gate locations — these are out of scope in v0.1.
For those, hand off the PDF report alongside the DXF. The engineering team typically references both — DXF for coordinates, PDF for specs.
When to send the DXF
The DXF is the right export when:
- Your EPC design team is ready to start civil and electrical engineering on this site.
- A civil contractor needs the table positions to bid on foundation work.
- An electrical contractor needs the ICR positions and cable paths to scope the BoQ.
- You're integrating with the broader project drawing set (substation layout, transmission corridor, civil drawings) in AutoCAD.
AutoCAD compatibility
The DXF is written in AutoCAD 2010 (R2010) format via the
ezdxf library — broadly compatible with AutoCAD 2010 and newer,
BricsCAD, ZWCAD, and LibreCAD. Older AutoCAD versions (pre-2010)
typically still open R2010 DXFs; if you hit a version issue, opening
and re-saving in a modern viewer is a one-time fix.