Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how PVAlign handles information when you visit pvalign.com, read articles, use the solar simulator or budget planner, sign in, share a circuit, submit a suggestion, use the AI Assistant, or purchase access. PVAlign is an independent educational project operated by the PVAlign Editorial Team. Our privacy contact is solarsim615@gmail.com.

1. Accounts and access

You do not need an account to read articles or begin using the free simulator. If you sign in through email or Google, PVAlign receives the email address and account identifier needed to identify your account. Resend processes the recipient address, sign-in message, and delivery metadata to deliver email login links. Google handles Google sign-in under its own terms and privacy policy.

PVAlign uses account, session, and access records to provide sign-in, manage free, trial, promotional, and paid access, enforce usage limits, prevent abuse, and provide support. For signed-in accounts, daily usage rollups record the UTC date, first and last account-check timestamps, number of account-session checks, and last observed access type. These rollups do not contain simulator circuit contents; sharing and AI requests involve separate transmissions described below.

2. Email contact and suggestions

When you email us, we receive the address, name, message, and attachments you choose to send. Our email provider also processes these communications. We use them to respond to support requests, investigate corrections, and handle privacy requests.

Signed-in suggestions send their subject and message to PVAlign and associate the submission with your account. We use these records to review feedback, track your submission allowance, and prevent spam or abuse. Do not include passwords, payment authorization credentials, API keys, or other sensitive information in suggestions or ordinary support messages.

3. Shared circuits and optional sharer names

Creating or updating a shared circuit sends its title, circuit snapshot, viewport information, and any optional sharer name or organization to PVAlign. The snapshot includes the circuit's components, connections, and saved settings. Account and session information is used to authorize share management. The online copy lets other people open the circuit through its share link.

Anyone with a valid share link can view the shared circuit and the optional sharer name or organization. Recipients can forward the link or save a copy. Include only information you intend to share. After a successful revocation, the original link no longer opens the shared circuit; revocation cannot remove copies or screenshots already saved by others. Clearing browser storage does not revoke an online share or delete account records. Contact us for questions about removal of server-held information.

4. Payments and QR Ph

Purchasing paid access opens a checkout hosted by PayMongo. PayMongo and your participating bank or electronic-wallet provider process QR Ph payment authorization and related identifying, contact, financial, device, and transaction information under their own policies.

PVAlign stores the account identifier, checkout and payment identifiers, payment reference, amount, currency, payment status, relevant timestamps, and resulting paid-access expiration. We use these records to reconcile payments, prevent duplicate fulfillment and fraud, activate or renew access, provide support, handle disputes, maintain accounting records, and meet legal obligations. Bank or wallet passwords, PINs, one-time passwords, and other payment authorization credentials belong in the payment provider's flow and should never be sent to PVAlign.

Review the PayMongo Privacy Policy and PayMongo Data Sharing Agreement for its processing and sharing practices.

5. Technical information, analytics, and visitor counting

Hosting, security, measurement, and advertising services may receive your IP address, approximate location, browser and device information, requested and referring pages, request timestamps, cookie or browser identifiers, interactions, and diagnostic information when your browser requests resources. The exact information depends on the service, its configuration, and your browser and privacy settings.

PVAlign uses Google Analytics to understand visits, page use, traffic sources, and content performance. Google may process browser identifiers, page and event information, device details, and approximate location according to the Analytics configuration. See Google's explanation of data use on partner sites.

On the production site, a visitor-counting service hosted on Cloudflare receives a randomly generated browser identifier stored locally as pvalign_visitor_id. We use it to distinguish visitors for counting. It identifies a browser installation rather than requiring your name or email; the network request may also expose technical request information to the hosting provider. Clearing site data removes the saved identifier, and a later visit may generate a new one.

6. Browser storage and session cookies

PVAlign uses browser storage for saved circuits, budget plans, preferences, AI chat history, your entered Gemini API key, and the visitor identifier. Temporary session storage may preserve interface state such as scroll position, article searches, filters, and pagination. You can remove local data through available tool controls or your browser's site-data settings. Removing it may erase unsaved or locally saved work.

Account session cookies support authenticated features after email-link or Google sign-in. Other services may use cookies or similar storage for security, measurement, consent choices, and advertising. Blocking cookies or storage can affect sign-in and saved settings. Local storage does not mean every feature is offline: circuit sharing and AI requests send information to online services as described in this policy.

7. AI Assistant requests, chat history, and API keys

The AI Assistant uses Google Gemini with the API key you provide. PVAlign saves that key and your selected model in your browser. Sending a question transmits the question, up to ten preceding conversation messages, circuit context, PVAlign reference information, selected model, and your API key to PVAlign's API for processing through Gemini. Circuit context can include component settings and connections. Do not put confidential or sensitive personal information into questions or circuits sent to AI.

The browser keeps up to fifty recent chat messages. Clearing chat or removing the API key through the interface removes the corresponding browser copy; it does not itself delete data already processed by online services. Do not assume that a request or key is never present in server or provider processing merely because its saved copy is local.

Google's handling of Gemini inputs and outputs depends on the API service terms, region, and whether the request qualifies as paid or unpaid usage. Under the terms, unpaid usage may be used to improve Google's products and may involve human review; qualifying paid usage has different data-use provisions, with safety and abuse processing still possible. A paid PVAlign membership does not determine whether your Google API usage is paid. Review the Gemini API terms and Google Privacy Policy before using the feature.

8. Advertising and affiliate links

PVAlign uses Google AdSense and Adsterra on eligible pages and access plans to help fund the site. These services and their partners may process IP addresses, browser and device information, pages visited, identifiers, and ad interactions. They may use cookies or similar technologies for ad delivery, personalization where permitted, reporting, frequency limits, fraud prevention, and security. Google advertising cookies may use previous visits to PVAlign or other websites. Non-personalized ads can still involve technical data and storage.

Learn more through Google's partner-sites privacy explanation, Google Ads Settings, YourAdChoices, and the Adsterra Privacy Policy. Choices may apply only to particular providers or browsers.

Some shopping links are affiliate links. Following them sends you to a third-party merchant or referral service, which may use referral identifiers and tracking under its own policy. PVAlign may earn a commission from a qualifying purchase.

9. Privacy choices and consent controls

Google Analytics is included when pages load, visitor counting operates on the production site, and advertising resources load when enabled for the page and access plan. Do not assume that visiting this policy or changing one provider's advertising preferences disables all analytics, visitor counting, or advertising services.

The footer's Privacy & cookie settings control opens Google's consent preferences when the Google consent service is available. Otherwise, it opens this policy. A Google consent choice may cover only the services and purposes shown in that message; it does not automatically control other providers. You can also manage provider preferences, block third-party resources, or clear cookies and site data through your browser. Consent requirements and available choices depend on your location and the services involved; this disclosure is not itself a request for or record of consent.

10. How information is used

• Provide sign-in, administer access plans and entitlements, and enforce usage limits.
• Save and restore circuits, budget plans, preferences, and interface state.
• Create, update, open, and revoke shared-circuit links.
• Review suggestions, respond to support and correction requests, and handle privacy requests.
• Process the AI questions and circuit context you choose to submit.
• Confirm payments, activate paid access, reconcile transactions, and handle disputes.
• Measure site use and content performance, and deliver and report on advertising.
• Secure the service, investigate failures and abuse, and meet legal obligations.

PVAlign does not sell account profiles. Account, access, billing, and usage records support service administration, commercial reporting, service measurement, and support. Providers receive information needed for the services described here, and people with share links receive the circuit information you choose to share.

11. Service providers and international processing

Services involved in operating PVAlign include Cloudflare for hosting and APIs, Resend for login emails, Google for selected sign-in, Analytics, Gemini, advertising, fonts and embedded YouTube resources, PayMongo and participating financial providers for payments, Adsterra for advertising, and our email provider for correspondence. Embedded videos, fonts, and other external resources can send technical information to their providers when loaded, even if you do not leave PVAlign.

Providers may process information on infrastructure outside your country according to their policies and applicable requirements. Following links to merchants, research organizations, manufacturers, or other websites sends requests to those services, whose own privacy policies apply. Information may also be disclosed where required by applicable law or necessary to address security incidents or legal claims.

12. Retention and deletion

• Local circuits, plans, settings, keys, and saved chat history remain until you remove them, they are replaced through normal feature use, or the browser removes site data. Temporary session state usually ends with the browser's page session.
• Account and access records are retained as needed to administer your account, determine eligibility, enforce allowances, and handle support, security, and legal obligations.
• Suggestions and correspondence are retained as needed for review, follow-up, submission limits, dispute resolution, and abuse prevention.
• Shared-circuit records support active links and their management. Revocation disables access through the original link; it is not a promise that every stored record, backup, or recipient's copy is immediately erased.
• Payment and billing records are retained as needed for reconciliation, accounting, fraud prevention, disputes, and legal requirements.
• Usage and diagnostic records are retained according to service measurement, troubleshooting, security needs, and provider settings. Google Analytics retention depends on the property's configuration; AI, advertising, payment, and other providers apply their own retention policies.

These are retention criteria, not a promise of a fixed automatic deletion date. Ask us about the retention or deletion of particular records. Clearing browser storage or signing out does not itself delete account, payment, suggestion, or other server-held information. Information is kept only as long as reasonably necessary for its stated purposes and applicable obligations.

13. Your rights and privacy requests

Depending on applicable law, you may have rights to access or correct personal information, request deletion, restrict or object to processing, request portability, or withdraw consent where processing depends on it. You may also raise a complaint with the relevant privacy authority, including the Philippine National Privacy Commission where applicable.

Send a privacy-related request to solarsim615@gmail.com. Include enough information to locate the relevant account or record, such as your sign-in email or share link, and describe the request. We may need to verify your identity before disclosing or changing account data. Do not send passwords, API keys, or payment credentials. Legal obligations or other lawful grounds may limit deletion. For information controlled independently by a provider, its own request process may also be needed.

14. Children's privacy

PVAlign is a general-audience educational site and does not knowingly seek personal information directly from children. Account, payment, and AI services may have additional eligibility requirements under their provider terms. If you believe a child has provided personal information to PVAlign, contact us with enough detail to investigate and address the request.

15. Policy changes

We may update this policy when features, providers, data practices, or legal requirements change. The revision date identifies the current version. Additional notice or consent will be provided where required for a change in processing.

16. Contact

The PVAlign Editorial Team is responsible for this policy. For privacy questions or rights requests, email solarsim615@gmail.com and identify your message as privacy-related. The Contact page also provides support information and the signed-in suggestion form.