E-house and grid connection
How the POI anchors the layout, how the E-house is sized and placed, and what dragging it actually does.
Every layout collects its power somewhere: the MV cables from each PCS & MV skid run to a single E-house, and from there the site connects to the grid at the Point of Interconnection (POI). Where you put the POI is one of the highest-leverage inputs in the tool — it anchors the E-house, orients the cable runs, and shifts how candidate layouts are ranked.
The POI
The POI slider places the grid-connection point anywhere on the site boundary. The solver uses it three ways:
- E-house anchoring — the MV hub wants to sit near the POI, because the run from E-house to POI is the heaviest cable on site.
- Cable-run scoring — candidate layouts with shorter total MV runs to the hub, and a shorter primary run to the POI, rank higher at equal capacity.
- Fill direction — the solver fills the site from the POI outward, so if you set a capacity target below the site's maximum, the equipment concentrates near the connection and the far end stays open.
The Gate slider defaults to following the POI, since site entrances and grid connections usually share the same street frontage — but you can move them independently.
E-house sizing
One E-house serves the site, sized by total power:
| Site power (Auto) | Format | Footprint |
|---|---|---|
| ≤ 50 MW | 20 ft | 6.058 × 2.438 m |
| ≤ 100 MW | 40 ft | 12.192 × 2.438 m |
| > 100 MW | Large walk-in | 15 × 4 m |
Sizing and layout are coupled: the layout sets the MW, the MW sets the E-house format, and the E-house footprint changes what fits. The solver iterates until both agree, and it never undersizes — a site on a format boundary gets the larger E-house.
The E-house picker forces a format when you already know what your project uses, and can disable the E-house entirely for layouts where MV collection is handled off-site.
Placement
Three placement modes:
- Auto — the solver evaluates POI-anchored, centered, and far placements per candidate and the ranking picks. This is where Regenerate visibly moves the hub between variants.
- Near POI — the hub follows the POI slider strictly, even when hugging the connection costs a unit on a tight site.
- Centered — the hub sits mid-field, which suits sites where the collection point is internal.
In every mode the E-house keeps the full equipment clearance around itself, never sits on a road, and stays clear of the gate apron — a gate never opens straight into the hub wall.
Dragging the E-house
You can also drag the E-house directly on the map and rotate it freely. This is not manual editing — it sets a solver constraint. The hub stays exactly where you drop it whenever that spot is valid (snapping to the nearest valid position otherwise), and the entire field re-packs around it. Expect the capacity to respond: pinning the hub in the middle of a dense field costs the units that made room for it. The Reset action on the hub returns placement to the solver.
The same pin-and-resolve model applies to BESS sections — see Move & lock equipment.