Building Your Panel Catalogue

Solar panels are the foundation of every quote you build. Before you can drop modules onto a roof in the design tool, size strings, or generate a single-line diagram, the panel has to exist in your catalogue with the right specs attached. This article walks through every panel field, the three ways to add a panel, and, importantly, which numbers the design tool actually needs before it will let you string and draw.

Three ways to add a panel

You never have to build a panel from a blank form unless you want to. There are three routes, from fastest to most hands-on.

1. Add from the Powerlily library
From the Panels page, click Add Panel to open the product picker. This is the Powerlily library, a shared, ready-made catalogue of common modules with their specs already filled in. Search by name or wattage, filter by brand, and click the + on any panel to copy it into your own catalogue. The copy is yours to edit, and any spec sheets or images attached to the library panel come across with it. This is the quickest path: a library panel arrives complete and design-ready.

Don't see the panel you need? Email support@powerlily.io and we'll add it to the library.

2. Extract from a spec sheet with Pericles
On the New Panel screen, the Pericles spec sheet extractor sits to the right of the form. Pericles is our AI spec sheet reader, available on Pro accounts. Drop in the manufacturer's datasheet, PDF or image, and Pericles reads it and fills the form for you: wattage, dimensions, efficiency, the electrical nameplate values, temperature coefficients, warranties, and more. It even matches (or creates) the brand from the manufacturer name, and keeps the original datasheet attached to the panel as a document.

A few things worth knowing:

• It reads every page of a multi-page datasheet. Electrical specs and temperature coefficients often live on pages 2 to 4, and degradation rates hide in the fine print on the last page.
• If a sheet lists several wattage variants in one table (for example 400 / 410 / 420 W), it picks the highest-wattage variant and pulls a consistent set of specs for it.
• It converts units for you (millimetres to inches, percentages to decimals).
• Always review before saving. Pericles populates the form but doesn't submit it. Values are highlighted so you can sanity-check them. Cost (Value) always comes through as $0, because it isn't on the datasheet, so that's the one field you'll always set yourself.

3. Create one manually
Click Create Panel and fill the form field by field. The form saves each field as you change it, so there's no single "Save" button to hunt for. Edits are recorded as you go.

The panel fields, explained

The form is grouped into the basics, the cost and physical dimensions, and an Advanced Fields section (collapsed by default) that holds the electrical nameplate specs and temperature coefficients.

Field	What it means
Name	What the panel is called throughout the app: in search, on the design tool, and on quotes. Required.
Brand	The manufacturer. Drives the brand logo shown on listings and proposals.
Model	The manufacturer's model number.
DC Watts	Nameplate power output (Pmax/Wp). The headline number that sizes the system. Required.
Product Warranty	Materials and workmanship warranty, in years (typically 12 to 30).
Power Warranty	Performance and output warranty, in years (typically 25 to 30).
Efficiency	Module efficiency, typically 18 to 22%.
Degradation Rate	How much output the panel loses each year (typically 0.2 to 0.7%). Feeds long-term production estimates. Required.
Bifaciality	For bifacial modules, the ratio of rear-side to front-side efficiency (typically 0.65 to 0.9).
Family	Cell type: Monocrystalline or Polycrystalline.
Height and Width	Module dimensions in inches. Height is the longer dimension. Required, and used to lay the module out to scale in the design tool.
Weight	Module weight in lbs.
Value	Your cost per unit. Drives quote pricing. Required (extracted sheets default this to $0).
Description and Video	Optional rich-text description and a video link, shown on proposals.
Show in Catalogue	If unchecked, the panel is hidden from your company catalogue but can still be used in designs and will still appear on quotes.
Recommended Inverter	Optionally pairs a default inverter with this panel.

Advanced Fields, the electrical nameplate

These are the standard-test-condition (STC) electrical specs straight off the datasheet:

Field	What it means
Nameplate Isc	Short-circuit current (A), the max current with the terminals shorted.
Nameplate Voc	Open-circuit voltage (V), the max voltage with no current flowing.
Nameplate Ipmax	Current at the maximum power point (A).
Nameplate Vpmax	Voltage at the maximum power point (V).
Average NOCT	Nominal Operating Cell Temperature (°C).
Temp Coeff Voc	How much Voc drops per °C above STC (typically -0.2 to -0.4 %/°C).
Temp Coeff Pmax	How much power drops per °C above STC (typically -0.3 to -0.5 %/°C).

What the design tool requires

Here's the part that trips people up. A panel can save and appear in your catalogue, but still not be ready to string in the 3D design tool. Stringing and single-line diagram (SLD) generation depend on the electrical nameplate values, because that's how the tool calculates how many panels fit safely in a string and how voltage and current behave across temperature.

Design-tool-required (look for the badge on the field):

• Nameplate Isc
• Nameplate Voc
• Nameplate Ipmax
• Nameplate Vpmax

These four are required whenever you create a new panel, so anything you make from scratch is electrically complete from the start. (Library panels and Pericles-extracted panels supply them automatically.)

Also needed for accurate string sizing:

• Temp Coeff Voc. The tool uses this to work out worst-case cold-weather voltage, which sets the maximum string length. It's the one electrical field the library or Pericles can occasionally leave blank, so it's worth a glance. The form won't let you blank it out once it's set.

Needed to lay the panel out on the roof:

• Width, Height, and Value. Without real dimensions the tool can't place the module to scale, and these are required to save anyway.

Tip: If the design tool won't let you string an array, open the panel and check the Advanced Fields. A missing Voc, Isc, or temperature coefficient is almost always the cause. Older panels imported before these fields existed are the usual culprits. Fill them in from the datasheet (or re-run Pericles on the spec sheet) and stringing will unlock.

A quick mental model

• Basics + Value gives you enough to put the panel on a quote.
• Width / Height gives you enough to place it to scale in the design tool.
• The four nameplate values + Temp Coeff Voc gives you enough to string it and generate an SLD.

Add panels through the library or Pericles whenever you can. Both deliver a fully design-ready panel in seconds. Reserve the manual form for the rare module that isn't covered yet.

Related articles

• Adding Inverters to Your Catalogue. Stringing an array depends on both the panel and the inverter specs.
• Adding Batteries to Your Catalogue. Adding storage to the design.
• Adding Equipment to Your Catalogue. Racking, optimizers, and the rest of the balance of system.
• Pericles, Your AI Assistant. The spec sheet extractor that fills panels in for you.