If you are reading a PV*SOL review in 2026, you are probably weighing German engineering rigour against a cloud workflow, and you want to know whether the 3D module justifies the licence. Valentin Software has been in Berlin since 1988, founded by Dr.-Ing. Gerhard Valentin as an engineering office. TSOL shipped in 1993 and PVSOL followed in 1998, which makes it one of the oldest PV design tools still under active development. PV*SOL Premium 2026 costs €845 per named user per year plus VAT. Our engineering team at Heaven Green Energy has benchmarked it against the rest of the field across 200 MW of built projects. This review gives it the score it earns, which is the highest we have awarded any desktop tool, and then says plainly where it stops.
Direct answer. PV*SOL Premium is the strongest desktop PV simulator for client-facing work and scores 35 out of 50 on our review bench. It costs €845 per named user per year plus VAT, Windows only. We rate its 3D shading animation the best shading artefact on our bench, and its German component database is the deepest we have used. Buy it if shading disputes cost you sales. It ships no proposal generator.
This review scores PVSOL on five published axes, corrects a widely repeated pricing error, and names the reader for whom PVSOL, not a cloud platform, is the correct purchase.
What PV*SOL Is
PV*SOL Premium is a Windows desktop application that simulates photovoltaic systems dynamically, meaning it steps through the year and computes yield, self-consumption, storage behaviour and financial return at each interval rather than applying annual averages.
The “Premium” distinction is the 3D module. Standard PV*SOL at €585 per year does the simulation, the component matching and the financial model, but does not build a three-dimensional scene. Premium adds full 3D visualisation with shading computed from the geometry of surrounding objects. That single difference is what most buyers are actually paying the extra €260 for, and in our view it is the right call for anyone selling to end customers.
Scope limits are published on the Valentin Software product page and worth knowing before you buy. The 3D scene supports up to 7,500 mounted modules or 10,000 roof-parallel modules, which comfortably covers residential, commercial and small ground-mount but is not a utility-scale tool. Reports generate in PDF and Word across 24 languages. Circuit diagrams generate automatically. Storage, electric vehicle charging and thermal systems are all modelled natively, which is unusual and reflects the company’s origins in solar thermal.
Bring one of your own sites to a free SurgePV demo. We will build the 3D roof from a satellite address, run the 8,760-hour shading simulation, and hand you the SLD, BOQ and branded proposal on the call.
Book a free SurgePV demo → Compare pricingThe 5-Axis Review Bench
The Heaven Green 5-Axis Review Bench is the framework we run before any licence renewal. Five axes, ten points each, published so the score can be challenged.
| Axis | What it measures | PV*SOL Premium score |
|---|---|---|
| Design and simulation depth | Shading model, dynamic simulation, storage, component matching | 9 / 10 |
| Compliance and documentation output | Technical report, auto circuit diagram, standards labelling | 8 / 10 |
| Proposal and sales workflow | Branded customer output, e-sign, CRM handoff, finance modelling | 4 / 10 |
| Price against value | Total annual cost for the job actually being done | 7 / 10 |
| Support and onboarding | Time to first competent output, documentation, training, response | 7 / 10 |
| Total | 35 / 50 |
That 35 is the highest total we have given a desktop tool, and it is one point above PVsyst. The reason is not simulation physics, where PVsyst is still ahead on exotic topologies and lender acceptance. It is that PV*SOL produces something a customer can look at.
The 4 out of 10 on proposal workflow is generous rather than harsh. PV*SOL generates a project report in PDF or Word in 24 languages, and that report can be dressed up. What it is not is a branded, interactive, signable proposal with a financing table the customer can toggle. It is a technical document with a cover page. That earns 4, not 1, and not 8.
The 7 on support and onboarding reflects genuine strength. The documentation is thorough, the training material is good, and the interface, while dated, is more approachable than PVsyst’s. A competent installer is productive in days rather than weeks.
Key takeaway. PVSOL Premium is the only tool on our bench where the shading model is simultaneously an engineering artefact and a sales artefact. That dual use is what the extra €260 over standard PVSOL buys, and it is why the tool scores above PVsyst overall despite losing on simulation depth.
Pricing
Valentin Software publishes prices in its own online shop, which makes this section short and unusually reliable. Every figure below is the vendor’s own listed price as of August 2026.
| Product | Term | Price plus VAT |
|---|---|---|
| PV*SOL Premium 2026 | One year, named user | €845.00 |
| PV*SOL Premium 2026, extension | One year renewal | €802.75 |
| PV*SOL Premium 2026 | Three months, named user | €285.00 |
| PV*SOL 2026 (no 3D) | One year, named user | €585.00 |
| PV*SOL 2026, extension | One year renewal | €555.75 |
| PV*SOL 2026 | Three months, named user | €195.00 |
Two corrections to numbers that circulate widely, including in an older post on this site.
The €1,300 figure is wrong for 2026. PV*SOL Premium is €845 per named user per year at list. We have corrected our own PV*SOL alternative guide’s framing accordingly.
The licensing model changed. Valentin moved to annual named-user licences. Perpetual licences purchased before 19 November 2024 remain usable indefinitely, which is a fairer transition than most vendors offer, but a new buyer in 2026 is buying a subscription. Renewals carry a modest loyalty discount, visible in the extension prices above.
📘 Licensing note
Named user means the licence follows the person, not the machine. On a team where two designers share a workstation, you still need two licences. Budget per designer, not per desk.
The three-month licence at €285 is genuinely useful and under-used. If you have one large commercial job that needs proper shading work, buying a quarter rather than a year is a legitimate option. For a broader cost picture across the category, see our solar design software pricing comparison.
What PV*SOL Does Best
The 3D shading animation. This is the reason to buy PV*SOL and we will not pretend otherwise. The tool renders the building, the array and the surrounding obstructions in three dimensions, then animates the shadow moving across the array through the day and across the seasons. A homeowner who has spent twenty minutes arguing that the neighbour’s tree does not matter stops arguing when they watch the shadow cross their own roof. In German-speaking markets the Verschattungsanalyse is a routine sales artefact for exactly this reason, and our solar design software Germany guide covers why the German market expects it.
No cloud tool we have tested produces a shading visual as persuasive. Several produce a better number. None produce a better picture.
The German component database. Over 30,000 PV modules, 9,000 inverters and 16,000 battery systems, maintained with manufacturer updates. For European work, particularly German and Austrian, the coverage of the specific inverter and battery SKUs actually available locally is the deepest we have used. If your bill of materials is built from what the local wholesaler stocks, this matters more than it sounds.
Storage and self-consumption modelling. 16,000 battery systems in the database is not a rounding error, it is a serious commitment. PV*SOL models self-consumption rate, storage dispatch and electric vehicle charging together, which is the correct way to model a modern European residential system where the export tariff is low and the value is in not importing. Our sister engineering team’s guide on battery sizing for hybrid solar covers the underlying sizing logic if you want the calculations behind the model.
The automatic circuit diagram. PV*SOL generates the circuit diagram from the configured system rather than making you draw it. It is not a full construction-issue single-line drawing, but as a starting point it saves real hours. Heaven Designs has a guide on how to read a solar single-line diagram if you need to check what the generated version is missing.
Where PV*SOL Falls Short
The workflow ends at the technical report. There is no branded proposal builder, no e-signature, no customer portal, no CRM. A sales team using PV*SOL exports a PDF and then rebuilds a proposal somewhere else, usually in a template that has drifted out of sync with the design. That handoff is where errors enter and where hours go.
Windows only, and a fairly demanding Windows at that. Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, with a DirectX-compatible graphics card and 2 GB of video RAM. The 3D module is the reason for that requirement and it is not negotiable. Mac teams need a virtual machine, and 3D manipulation in a virtual machine is noticeably worse.
Single user, no shared project state. Named-user licences on a desktop application mean projects live in files on somebody’s machine. Two designers on one job pass files back and forth. There is no live collaboration, no browser access from site, no shared version history.
The scale ceiling is real. 7,500 mounted modules is roughly 3 to 4 MW at current module wattages. Past that you are outside the tool’s intended envelope, and utility-scale work belongs elsewhere. See our utility-scale solar design software guide for that end of the market.
The interface shows its age. It is more approachable than PVsyst, but it is still a dense Windows desktop application built up over 25 years of feature additions. Discoverability is poor. Most users learn a path through it and never find the rest.
- ✓ The most persuasive 3D shading animation on our bench
- ✓ 30,000 modules, 9,000 inverters, 16,000 battery systems
- ✓ Serious storage, self-consumption and EV charging modelling
- ✓ Automatic circuit diagram generation
- ✓ Reports in 24 languages, PDF and Word
- ✓ Published pricing, plus a €285 three-month option
- ✗ No branded proposal, e-signature or CRM handoff
- ✗ Windows only, with a 2 GB VRAM graphics requirement
- ✗ Named-user desktop licences, no shared project state
- ✗ Ceiling of 7,500 mounted modules rules out utility scale
- ✗ Not the report the project-finance lenders we deal with name
- ✗ Dense interface with poor feature discoverability
Get a design workflow audit. Send us your current tool list and monthly project volume. Our engineers will map where the duplicate spend and the handoff delays are, at no cost. Talk to our team.
Who Should Buy PV*SOL Premium
Buy PV*SOL Premium if shading arguments are costing you sales. That is the reader, and in dense European housing stock there are a lot of them.
- German, Austrian and Swiss installers. The component database matches your wholesaler’s catalogue, the reports are in your language, the Verschattungsanalyse is what your customer expects, and Valentin support is local. Switching away from this in the German market is a decision that needs a strong reason.
- Residential installers selling into shaded urban sites. Terraced streets, mature trees, neighbouring blocks. The animation closes the objection faster than any number.
- Anyone selling battery and self-consumption systems. The storage modelling is more complete than most of the cloud tools we have benched, and self-consumption is where the residential economics now live in Europe.
- Small consultancies producing technical reports, not proposals. If your deliverable is an assessment for a client’s own decision, the report is the product and the missing proposal builder does not matter.
- Firms with a legacy perpetual licence. If you bought before 19 November 2024, you own it. Switching costs you a working tool and gains you a subscription. Do the arithmetic honestly.
For these readers PV*SOL Premium beats SurgePV, and we will say so on our own site.
💡 Fast tip
Test the €285 three-month Premium licence on one contested shaded job before committing to a year. If the animation does not change a customer conversation, the annual licence will not either.
Who Should Not
Teams whose bottleneck is proposal turnaround. If your problem is that quotes take three days to go out, a better simulator does not fix it. Start with our solar proposal software guide instead.
Utility-scale developers. The 7,500 module ceiling and the absence of terrain-following layout tools put PV*SOL outside this market entirely.
Teams raising project finance. PV*SOL is credible engineering, but on the financed projects we have worked on the document the lender’s technical advisor asked for by name was a PVsyst report. Our PVsyst review covers why that moat has held.
Mac-first and field-heavy teams. Named-user Windows desktop with a graphics requirement is the wrong shape for a team that designs on site.
Fast-growing installers past about ten designers. File-based projects and named-user desktop licences stop working as a coordination model. Look at the cloud options in our best solar design software ranking.
PV*SOL vs SurgePV
Disclosure, stated plainly: SurgePV is a sister product of Heaven Green Energy and we run it on our own EPC projects. That is first-party operating experience and also a commercial interest. The table names SurgePV’s weaknesses alongside PV*SOL’s.
| Axis | PV*SOL Premium | SurgePV | Honest verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shading model quality | 9 / 10, dynamic 3D from scene geometry | 8 / 10, 8,760-hour module-level | Close. PV*SOL edges it on scene fidelity |
| Client-facing shading artefact | Animated 3D shadow walkthrough | Static and interactive shading maps | PV*SOL wins, clearly |
| 3D scene creation | Manual modelling of building and obstructions | AI 3D roof from a satellite address | SurgePV wins on speed |
| Component database | 30,000 modules, 9,000 inverters, 16,000 batteries | 70,000+ modules, 12,000+ inverters, thinner racking library | Split. SurgePV wider, PV*SOL deeper on European battery SKUs |
| Storage modelling | Excellent, with EV charging and self-consumption | Present, less detailed on dispatch strategy | PV*SOL wins |
| Proposal workflow | Technical report only, 24 languages | White-label proposals in 9 languages, e-signature | SurgePV wins |
| Drawing output | Automatic circuit diagram | Auto single-line diagram, BOQ, DXF/DWG export | SurgePV wins |
| Platform | Windows desktop, named user, 2 GB VRAM | Browser, multi-user, shared project state | SurgePV wins |
| Project scale ceiling | 7,500 mounted modules | Multi-MW, ground-mount and floating templates | SurgePV wins |
| Price | €845 per user per year | $1,299 per user per year on the 5-User Team plan | PV*SOL is cheaper per seat. Compare stacks, not seats |
| Lender-named report | No | No | Neither. PVsyst holds that |
| Brand recognition | 28 years in the German market | Launched 2025, thin recognition, has to be explained | PV*SOL wins |
| Drone capture, structural stamping | Neither | Neither | Neither tool does this |
SurgePV’s weaknesses are in that table deliberately. It launched in 2025, so brand recognition is thin. Its racking database is materially thinner than its module and inverter libraries. It does no drone capture and no structural stamping. And on the specific question of a shading animation a homeowner will remember, PV*SOL is simply better.
Verdict. If your projects are shaded European rooftops with batteries and your customer needs convincing, PVSOL Premium at €845 is a well-priced, well-built tool and you should buy it. If your bottleneck is the gap between a finished design and a signed contract, PVSOL does not address it at any price, because it was never built to.
How Heaven Green Energy Uses This In Practice
We do not run PV*SOL as a production tool, and the reason is specific rather than dismissive: our project mix is Indian rooftop and ground-mount, where the component database advantage does not apply and the shading disputes are fewer than in dense German housing stock. We license it for benchmarking, and we have used it on European client work.
What we learned from benchmarking is worth stating. On a shaded 180 kW warehouse rooftop with two adjacent taller structures, PVSOL’s 3D result and our cloud model’s annual yield agreed to within 1.4 percent. The models were not meaningfully different. What was different was that the PVSOL animation ended a conversation with the client’s facilities manager in about ninety seconds, after two earlier meetings had failed to. That is a sales outcome produced by an engineering tool, and it is the honest case for buying PV*SOL.
The counterexample is equally clear. On our Gujarat residential work, where a typical job is 3 to 10 kW in Ahmedabad, Surat or Rajkot, the customer needs a subsidy-inclusive price and a signature the same week. A tool with no proposal output adds a step rather than removing one. We design those in SurgePV and issue the branded proposal from the same model.
If you are shopping the wider category, our solar design software pillar frames it, and the sibling reviews in this series cover Aurora Solar, SolarEdge Designer and Scanifly.
Where our EPC team helps directly:
- Commercial Solar: 10 to 100 kW rooftop with net metering and financial modelling handled.
- Industrial Solar EPC: 100 kW and above, turnkey, with performance guarantees.
- Residential Solar: 1 to 10 kW rooftop with PM Surya Ghar subsidy handled end to end.
- Solar Calculator: a 60 second sizing and savings estimate before any of the above.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does PV*SOL Premium cost in 2026?
PVSOL Premium 2026 is €845 per named user per year plus VAT, direct from Valentin Software. A one-year renewal is €802.75, reflecting a loyalty discount. A three-month licence is €285. The non-premium PVSOL, which drops the 3D visualisation module, is €585 per year with a €555.75 renewal and a €195 three-month option. Figures circulating at around €1,300 per year are out of date for 2026.
What is the difference between PVSOL and PVSOL Premium?
Premium adds the 3D visualisation and detailed shading analysis module. Both editions run the dynamic simulation, the component matching, the storage and self-consumption modelling and the financial calculation. Only Premium builds a three-dimensional scene of the building and surroundings and computes shading from that geometry, which is also what produces the animated shadow walkthrough. The difference is €260 per year and for anyone selling to end customers it is worth paying.
Does PV*SOL run on Mac?
No. PV*SOL Premium requires Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, with a DirectX-compatible graphics card carrying at least 2 GB of video RAM, 4 GB system RAM and 2 GB of disk space. Mac users need Parallels, VMware Fusion or a Windows virtual machine. The 3D module is graphics-dependent, so performance in a virtual machine is noticeably worse than on native hardware. This is a real barrier for Mac-first design teams.
Is PV*SOL good enough for bankable yield reports?
It is credible engineering and in our experience it is accepted on many self-funded commercial projects. It is not, however, the document the project-finance lenders we have dealt with ask for by name, which has consistently been a PVsyst report. If your project carries debt or a contractual generation guarantee with a penalty, confirm the requirement with the lender and budget for a PVsyst run as well.
How many modules can PV*SOL handle?
The 3D scene supports up to 7,500 mounted modules or 10,000 roof-parallel modules. At current module wattages that is roughly 3 to 4 MW, which covers residential, commercial and small ground-mount comfortably. It rules out utility-scale work. Projects past that ceiling need a tool built for terrain-following layout at scale, and PV*SOL was never positioned for that market.
Does PV*SOL generate customer proposals?
Not in the modern sense. It generates a project report in PDF or Word across 24 languages, which is a technical document with a cover page rather than a branded, interactive, signable proposal with a financing table. There is no e-signature, no customer portal and no CRM handoff. Teams that need those either pair PV*SOL with a separate proposal tool or move design into a platform that bundles both.
Is the PV*SOL 3D shading analysis better than a cloud tool’s?
As a picture, yes, and it is not close. The animated shadow walkthrough across the day and the seasons is the most persuasive client-facing shading artefact we have seen. As a number, the gap is small. On a shaded 180 kW warehouse benchmark our cloud model and PVSOL agreed to within 1.4 percent on annual yield. Buy PVSOL for the artefact, not for a materially different answer.
Did Valentin Software drop perpetual licences?
The current model is an annual named-user licence. Perpetual licences purchased before 19 November 2024 remain usable indefinitely, which is a more generous transition than most vendors offer. New buyers in 2026 are buying a subscription at €845 per year for Premium or €585 for standard PV*SOL, with a small discount on renewal. If you hold a working perpetual licence, weigh the switching cost honestly before giving it up.
Stop paying for four tools. Design it all in one.
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Free trial, no credit card · $1,299 per user per year on the 5-User Team planDisclaimer: SurgePV is our own product. It is built by the Heaven Group, the same company as Heaven Green Energy, so treat this as a recommendation from its maker.