Multi-plot projects
How SolarLayout designs multiple plot boundaries in parallel, and how to read per-plot progress in the Inspector.
When your KMZ has multiple plot boundaries, SolarLayout designs each plot independently and in parallel. A 4-plot project usually takes about as long as the biggest individual plot — not 4× longer.
Why split a site into plots
Two common reasons:
- Your site is naturally divided. Power-block-sized sub-areas, parcels acquired separately, terraced terrain, or land where internal exclusions split the boundary into segments.
- You want to compare layout options across sub-areas. Plot 1 at one set of parameters, Plot 2 at another, to see how each performs.
If you don't need separate plots, a single boundary polygon is simpler. See KMZ requirements for how to structure plots in Google Earth.
What you'll see during generation
When you click Generate layout on a multi-plot project, the Inspector's pinned action area swaps to in-progress mode:
- A header reads Generating layout — N of M boundaries done.
- Below it, a per-plot list shows one row per plot boundary.
- A Cancel button is at the bottom of the action area.
The plot rows are labelled Plot 1, Plot 2, Plot 3, … in the order they appear in your KMZ. Each row shows a status icon and a timing snippet:
| Row status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Queued (small dot, "queued") | Waiting for a free worker. |
| Running (blue spinner, "running (0m 47s)") | Currently being designed; elapsed counter updates every second. |
| Done (green check, "done (1m 12s)") | Finished. |
| Failed (red ×, "failed") | This plot couldn't be designed. The rest of the project continues. |
While generation is in flight, the canvas itself shows a centred Computing — N of M done chip (and later Stitching results… / Loading layout…). Per-plot status lives in the Inspector list, not as pins on the plot boundaries.
After a plot finishes
When a plot finishes, the Inspector row flips to done with its total time. The full layout doesn't render on the canvas yet — it appears once every plot is either done or failed, and the rollup step has merged the per-plot outputs into the project layout.
If a plot fails partway through, the Inspector marks it failed and keeps going on the rest. The header counter shifts to e.g. 5 of 6 done — 1 failed when the project finishes.
Re-running after a failure
In v0.1, per-plot re-run isn't available — to re-try a failed plot you click Generate layout again in the Inspector, which re-runs the whole project. (A future release will add per-plot retry.)
If you want to tweak parameters and re-try, change them in the Inspector first, then click Generate layout again. The next run appears in the Runs list as a new entry — your previous result stays on file.
How plot results combine
When every plot finishes, SolarLayout aggregates the per-plot outputs into a single project layout:
- Total DC and AC capacity — sum across plots.
- 25-year energy yield (P50 / P75 / P90) — computed at the project level on a merged hourly profile.
- PDF report shows per-plot tables plus a project-level summary.
- CSV exports include per-plot detail plus a combined project file.