Blog

A collection of our current and past announcements, events and thoughts on everything related to the solar-powered future
Why did Solcast choose DNV?
James Luffman

James Luffman

Why did Solcast choose DNV?

Solcast has now joined DNV, as announced February 1st 2023. For our customers, nothing is changing. Solcast is still operating from our Sydney Office. We have the same great team and products - and DNV is investing to support our growth.

Solcast integrates with NREL SAM
Solcast Team

Solcast Team

Solcast integrates with NREL SAM

Solcast API Toolkit users can now access Solcast TMY data directly from within SAM through the use of a new software script. This script is available on GitHub. This short tutorial will show you how to import and use Solcast TMY data.

Load Forecasting Case Study with TESLA Forecast
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Load Forecasting Case Study with TESLA Forecast

Solcast has an established history of collaboration with load forecasting tech company, TESLA Forecast. Together, we're taking on the next generation of rooftop solar challenges in South Australia. Learn more in our case study.

Meteonorm dataset limitations
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Meteonorm dataset limitations

The key limitations of Meteonorm's representativeness lie within the use of 1) interpolated and 2) synthetic data. Interpolations rely heavily on surface observation data, which are not equally distributed. Synthetic estimates are useful when high quality direct observational data does not exist. However, given the presence of a global fleet of high resolution weather satellites that directly image cloud cover - this is not the case.

Browsable global solar radiation maps are live
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Browsable global solar radiation maps are live

Browse animated solar radiation maps in your area of interest - updated daily! Includes a history, broken down by date with global coverage. It's our new solar radiation map archive and it's totally rad.

Malaysian solar power forecasting requirements
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Malaysian solar power forecasting requirements

"We enjoy a considerable amount of hot and sunny weather in Malaysia but we also have very low cloud cover. The other challenge is of course electricity generated must be used immediately." -TNB Chairman Tan Sri Leo Moggie-

Solar power forecasting in Vietnam made easy
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Solar power forecasting in Vietnam made easy

"Despite the fact that solar power is a valuable capacity addition to the power system which is facing difficulties in power supplies, a large number of solar power plants coming into operation in a short period have been causing many challenges to the operation of power system." - EVN NLDC.

Solar power forecasting in Ukraine
James Luffman

James Luffman

Solar power forecasting in Ukraine

Solar power forecasting is becoming essential for successful grid integration in Ukraine. Accurate forecasts can help with day-ahead bidding of power, by allowing larger bids and/or reducing imbalance or accuracy penalties.

Let Solcast take the pain out of PV generation forecasting at your solar farm asset
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Let Solcast take the pain out of PV generation forecasting at your solar farm asset

Owners and operators of solar farms already have one too many things to think about. Compliance items stack up by the thousands very quickly. Utilities providing their network connections can impose new requirements without warning. Manufacturers of key components can go bankrupt and leave you without an important spare part! Don't let setting up solar forecasting technology at your asset be another pain-point. Use the Solcast API Toolkit!

Lowering uncertainty is fundamental to managing solar investment risk
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Lowering uncertainty is fundamental to managing solar investment risk

The principal input to the rate of return calculation for a solar farm asset is the expected revenue generation from the solar farm. This highlights the importance of high quality solar irradiance data: revenue generation is primarily influenced by the availability of solar irradiance at that location over time.

Solar forecasting for electricity networks
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Solar forecasting for electricity networks

Through creation of customised Solcast Grid Aggregations for the behind the meter solar installed downstream of a particular zone substation, this distribution network was finally able to correct the apparent (net) demand profiles for the impacts of cloud cover.

Solar GIS Data for the Solar Powered Future

Solar GIS Data for the Solar Powered Future

Solar GIS data includes both a given location (latitude and longitude), plus time-series information (attribute) about the historical, live or forecast solar irradiance and weather at that location.

Solar Power Forecasting: what it is and how to do it
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Solar Power Forecasting: what it is and how to do it

Solar power forecasting is at its core a weather forecasting problem. It starts with modeling of the Sun's position with respect to a given location at the Earth's surface, before then modeling the transmittance of solar radiation through the Earth's atmosphere.

Behind the meter solar power forecasting and PV fleet visibility
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Behind the meter solar power forecasting and PV fleet visibility

As soon as penetrations of behind the meter solar PV sites reach 1-2% of total load, forecasting the power output of these PV systems starts to become critical for efficient market and network operation. Without including a behind the meter solar forecast into the overall load forecasting operations, errors in the daily load forecast start to appear. Thankfully, Solcast's Grid Aggregations are easy to set-up, are highly accurate, and can help solve this challenging problem!

Rooftop Solar Forecasting for One or Many Thousands of PV Sites
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Rooftop Solar Forecasting for One or Many Thousands of PV Sites

We offer a simple PV power conversion model, which connects our global, rapid-update cloud nowcasting system with the location and installed capacity of the target PV system. We then generate an estimate of the future power output of each site, which you can instantly access via our API

Grid Aggregations for Behind the Meter Solar Forecasting
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Grid Aggregations for Behind the Meter Solar Forecasting

We use our rapid update cloud and irradiance modelling capability and combine it with information about the spatial distribution and installed capacities of your PV fleet to deliver live, forecast and historical estimates fleet performance.

A Solar Irradiance Data API Built with Users in Mind

A Solar Irradiance Data API Built with Users in Mind

You can get started with the Solcast API services in less than five minutes. Sign-up for our API and instantly access our global solar forecasting (0-7 days) and estimated actuals dataset (last 7 days). You can also model and forecast utility scale solar farms, create your own grid aggregations and generate forecasts for individual rooftop PV sites trial upon request. Historical data downloads of up to 10 years of data are also available!

Solar Irradiance Data - Everywhere You Need It
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Solar Irradiance Data - Everywhere You Need It

No source of information is more important for the solar energy industry than solar irradiance data! Our team believes we have the most accurate and most widely available historical, live and forecast solar radiation data available, and we are committed to improving it every week.

The important role of solar forecasting in Australia
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

The important role of solar forecasting in Australia

With such high penetrations of small-scale solar present across Australia and several new large solar farms in the pipeline, Solcast believes that solar forecasting technology will be important for maintaining predictability and stability in our power system.

Solar Forecasting for Energy Storage and Electricity Networks
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Solar Forecasting for Energy Storage and Electricity Networks

My Solar and Storage 2017 talk entitled "Solar forecasting support for Australia energy networks & markets via the Solcast API" will cover our experience working with 11 Aussie distribution networks and our vision for providing them solutions to solar intermittency.

Seeing Solar Intermittency as Opportunity
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Seeing Solar Intermittency as Opportunity

But I want to challenge you to change your mindset, and change the game. Let's view intermittency as the opportunity it really is. Technology can solve the intermittency "problem" and the companies that do so will create value. The obstacle is the way.

Forecasting Collective Solar PV Ramping Events
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Forecasting Collective Solar PV Ramping Events

When a few hundreds of megawatts of solar generation undergoes a negative ramp event, the energy markets see a sudden jump in the regional demand and local distribution networks will see changes in network loads/voltages in their control rooms. This leads to challenges managing our electricity markets and networks in areas where large amounts of solar are installed.

FREE Solar Radiation Historical Data for Researchers
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

FREE Solar Radiation Historical Data for Researchers

Solcast wants to give you the data you need for your research work for FREE (no cash required!). As a researcher, we'll provide you with access to our Recent and Historical Solar Irradiance Data for non-commercial research use.

Free PV system performance estimate
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Free PV system performance estimate

All around the world, solar owners are wondering the same thing: Are my solar panels performing as expected? How can I monitor my PV system's performance? Are my solar panels working? Use our FREE PV system performance estimator to find out!

Solar Energy is an Exponential Technology
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Solar Energy is an Exponential Technology

Solar is an exponential technology. What this means, is that its price performance is falling on an exponential curve and its growth globally is growing upwards in the same fashion.

Solar Forecasting Accuracy Transparency
James Luffman

James Luffman

Solar Forecasting Accuracy Transparency

In my role as CEO of Solcast, I've been directing my team to think more like the customer, and as a result, Solcast has been working to make the accuracy of its solar power forecasting highly visible. We are now storing our 1-hour ahead forecasts for everywhere in the world, and making them available to our customers & users in real time.

Behind-the-Meter Solar PV Forecasting in West Australia
James Luffman

James Luffman

Behind-the-Meter Solar PV Forecasting in West Australia

Behind the meter solar PV power forecasting is an essential tool for accurate supply and demand balance for grid operators. And with rooftop PV installations in Western Australia growing quickly, load forecasting is becoming increasingly difficult for our partner Western Power.

Solar Power Forecasting for Utility Scale Farms
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Solar Power Forecasting for Utility Scale Farms

Solcast have worked diligently to enable the hard-working folks who are managing, operating and deploying utility scale solar farm sites by delivering on an easy to use and easy to understand forecasting solution via API

Global Solar Irradiance Forecasts and Historical Datasets
Dr. Nick Engerer

Dr. Nick Engerer

Global Solar Irradiance Forecasts and Historical Datasets

When we first launched the Solcast API in early 2017, the Solcast team was excited to learn more about the market for historical and forecast solar irradiance and solar power data services. Now, 18 months later, with nearly a thousand users across five continents, we see no better way to launch our company blog than by thanking those users for their commitment to the integration of solar energy, and for being such forward-thinking early adopters of the Solcast API. So - Thank you!