Features / Grading & Earthworks
Grading and earthworks optimization
PVX.AI grading optimization balances cut and fill earthwork for utility-scale solar sites inside AutoCAD, built for solar design engineers and EPC teams. You set maximum slopes per direction, pick a cut/fill balance method, and build the graded surface. Total cut and fill volumes are reported with every run. On one project, PVX.AI reduced earthwork volume 70%, from 118,000 m3 to 35,000 m3, saving $727K.
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How does grading work in PVX.AI?
One grading dialog handles all earthwork in PVX.AI, from balanced cut/fill smoothing to heavily cut-biased or fill-biased grading. It opens from the Earthworks panel on the PVX.AI ribbon and pairs method selection with slope entry in degrees, so every grading strategy runs through the same workflow. You select the boundary and set maximum threshold slopes for the North-South and East-West directions. Choose a soft or hard slope transition and click Build. PVX.AI reports total cut and fill volumes when the surface is done.
Before building, you enable the outputs you want. Keep Original Terrain retains the untouched surface so you can compare against the graded result. Show Cut/Fill Map color-codes the earthwork the build produced. Show Slope Analyzer refreshes the slope analysis table once grading completes. Because every option lives in one dialog, testing a different strategy means changing a setting and clicking Build again.
That matters because grading strategy is a design decision with a price tag. On one utility-scale project, three grading approaches were compared on the same site. The selected approach reduced earthwork volume 70%, from 118,000 m3 to 35,000 m3, and saved $727K. The comparison was practical because each candidate surface could be built and measured the same way, with cut and fill volumes reported on every run.
- Slope limits are set per direction (N-S and E-W), matching how racks tolerate slope.
- Keep Original Terrain preserves the pre-grading surface in a separate AutoCAD layer for before/after comparison.
- The cut/fill map colors every mesh triangle: red for cut, green for fill, with volume and depth per triangle.
Cut/fill balance: ratio slider or fill cap
PVX.AI offers two balance methods. Expand the Cut/Fill Balance section of the grading dialog and pick one. The Cut/Fill Ratio slider runs from -1 to +1 with a live diagram that updates as you drag. Centered at zero, it balances cut and fill volumes to minimize imported or exported soil. This is the classic smoothing result: material cut from the high spots fills the low spots, and the site needs little or no soil moved in or out.
Dragging the slider biases the earthwork in either direction. A cut-biased surface produces surplus material that has to leave the site. A fill-biased surface needs imported material to make up the difference. Which way you drag depends on your haulage economics: bias toward cut when exporting soil is the cheaper problem to have, and bias toward fill when importing material costs less than hauling spoil away. The live diagram shows the balance shifting before you commit to a build.
The Max Fill Height method works from a hard constraint instead of a ratio. You cap the maximum fill height, and PVX.AI produces a cut-heavy result that keeps every fill area within the cap. Limiting fill to 1 m, for example, produces a surface that minimizes fill while staying within that constraint. Use this method when your project needs a hard ceiling on fill depth rather than a target balance.
What is pile-adapted grading?
Pile-adapted grading (Adapt to Pile) grades only beneath and around installed tables instead of regrading the whole site. The problem it solves shows up after you place tables on a 3D surface: some rows end up with insufficient panel-to-ground clearance, and on steep local slopes, pile lengths can exceed structural limits. Fixing a handful of rows should not require regrading the entire site, and with Adapt to Pile it does not.
Adapt to Pile opens from the Tools dropdown on the Layout panel. You set two constraints. The first is a maximum above-ground rear pile length, with typical limits like 2.0 m or 2.5 m; the check compares above-ground pile length only. The second is a minimum front panel-to-ground clearance. Start the process and PVX.AI modifies the terrain only where tables violate those limits, scoped to the selected PV Area. Table tilt angles stay unchanged.
After processing, the new surface appears and a cut/fill map shows the localized grading zones. Grading is limited to the footprint width of each table row, preserving the natural terrain between rows. Toggle the original and modified terrain layers to compare the result before and after. To finish, regenerate contours from the modified surface using Create Contour under Civil Analysis.
Earthworks outputs
After grading, you regenerate contours from the modified surface with one command and export earthworks data as CSV. The Earthworks export pairs the pre-grading and post-grading surfaces point by point, with five columns: Northing, Easting, NGL (natural ground level), FGL (finished ground level), and Difference, where positive is fill and negative is cut. Run it after a grading operation; an ungraded site has no paired points to export.
Contour generation is under your control. The Generate Contours dialog sets the minor interval spacing and makes every Nth contour bold and labeled, with a live preview that updates as you change the values. Generated contours land on dedicated major, minor, and label layers, replacing any existing contours there, so regenerating after each grading run keeps the drawing current.
Graded terrain also exports as PVsyst-compatible CSV. Both pre-grading and post-grading variants are available, so the surface you model in PVsyst matches the surface you plan to build.
Cut/fill volumes also flow into the Bill of Quantities civil works sheet, itemized alongside site preparation, roads, cable trenches, and earthing. The Info Screen summarizes the same volumes alongside total installed DC power, pile quantities with minimum and maximum pile lengths, and the rack slope distribution.
"We adopted PVX.AI mid-project and it picked up our existing layout without losing a step. It handled grading and routing automatically and caught an excavation issue that would have been costly to fix in the field."
Hatice Elif Beyazitli Celik
Analysis & Projecting Process Leader · EnerjiSA
Frequently asked questions
How does PVX.AI balance cut and fill volumes?
The Cut/Fill Ratio method balances cut and fill volumes when centered, minimizing soil import and export. Dragging the slider biases the result toward more cut or more fill. Alternatively, the Max Fill Height method caps fill height and produces a cut-heavy surface that respects the cap.
Can PVX.AI grade only under the tables instead of the whole site?
Yes. Adapt to Pile grades only beneath and around installed tables to satisfy minimum ground clearance and maximum pile length constraints, scoped to a selected PV Area. Terrain between rows stays natural.
Does PVX.AI keep the original terrain after grading?
Yes. The original surface is kept in a separate AutoCAD layer as a hidden baseline. Toggle layers to compare before and after, and inspect both in 3D Orbit.
What earthwork volumes does PVX.AI report?
Total cut and total fill volumes are reported after every grading run, per-triangle volumes appear on the cut/fill map, and the Bill of Quantities export itemizes earthworks under civil works.
Can I export grading results for civil contractors?
Yes. The Earthworks CSV export pairs pre-grading and post-grading surfaces point by point (NGL, FGL, difference), and graded terrain exports to PVsyst-compatible CSV in both pre-grading and post-grading variants.
See it on your site data
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