Overview
Battery containers are placed inside BESS areas, and the code engine measures setbacks from the geometry you tag as an exposure. This guide covers both.
Prerequisites
Import terrain if you plan to grade pads later.
Step-by-Step Guide
1. Draw a BESS area
On the Site Layout panel, open the Area dropdown and choose Draw BESS Area. This draws a polyline and designates it as a battery zone in one step.
2. Or convert an existing polyline
Choose Convert BESS Area to turn any existing closed polyline into a BESS area. Self-intersections are sanitized automatically. An outline that overlaps an existing BESS area is rejected, so draw it clear of the others.
3. Check the result
The area appears with its name label, and any PV racks underneath it are hidden. To delete an area, select its boundary polyline and press Delete. Erasing the polyline is the deletion, and the racks come back.
4. Tag the exposures
From the BESS dropdown, run Tag Exposure: Building, Tag Exposure: Lot Line, Tag Exposure: Public Way or Tag Exposure: Combustible. Each one prompts you to select a polyline on any layer. Use Clear Exposure to remove a tag.
Tips & Recommendations
- Area names are assigned once and never renumbered, even after another area is deleted.
- Tags persist with the drawing and feed the compliance report, so tag before you place units.
- Units far enough from every exposure qualify for the remote-location exemption from size and separation caps.