How does a large ratio between the sensitive area and the collector area affect the shading results?

[Andreas]

I'm going to simulate near shading on a system with modules that are widely separated on a facade, but I keep getting this error message:

"The active area is far larger than the PV-field collector area"

I know that I can deactivate it in the hidden parameters but will the shading simulation be faulty if the ratio between the sensitive area and the collector area is too large?

[André Mermoud]

You can determine the discrepancy by yourself, by defining your field

- either as a whole,

- and as seperate PV modules (one rectangular field per module) if they are significantly spaced (and not too numerous).