A strategic review: the role of commercially available tools for planning, modelling, optimization, and performance measurement of photovoltaic systems

Abstract Solar power and photovoltaic (PV) systems have become crucial components of the world’s energy portfolio. The PV systems may be engineered in a number of ways, including off-grid, on-grid, and tracking. Incorporating PV systems with traditional sources of power like diesel generators (DGs) or other renewable sources, like windmills, is possible. In this situation, developers, investigators, and experts are striving to create the best design that accommodates the load demand in regards to technological, financial, ecological, and social aspects. To assist in figuring out the best PV size and design, numerous tools, models, and heuristics were created and rolled out. The majority of the tools, models, and techniques used to build PV systems over the past 70 years were described, assessed, and evaluated in this article. It was observed that methods for optimising PV system designs evolved with time and demand. Tool design is often divided into segments such as artificial and classical, solo and hybrid approaches, and others. Hybrid approaches, nevertheless, gained prominence to become the most popular approach because of its adaptability and capacity for handling challenging issues. This paper’s evaluation also helps the readers choose a PV system design tool (approximately 46) that is suited for their needs.