Welcome to the Solcast API
The Solcast API delivers solar radiation and PV power data for anywhere on Earth: past, present and forecast. ‘Live’ estimated actuals and Rapid Update Forecasts are available in satellite coverage areas across the globe (except Antarctica). ‘Recent’ (past few months) and ‘Historical’ (up to 12 years back) data is available to download via the Solcast API Toolkit.
Try it now, free
The Solcast API is a ‘Freemium’ API. Our Free Tier offering is designed to enable exploration and testing for potential paying users, and to support hobbyist and researcher use cases, too. You can read about our plans and pricing here.
The Solcast API Toolkit is a friendly web user interface that allows non-developers to discover and download data. The Toolkit is also a handy resource for building API calls or managing your account.
Once you register and verify your email address you will be logged into the Solcast API Toolkit and you’ll receive an API key. You can use the API key in three ways:
- Use the api_key query string parameter with the query string in your API call. E.g. ‘&api_key=YOUR_KEY’ in the URL
- Basic authentication – use the API key as the username with an empty password
- Digest authentication – use the API key as the username with empty password
How do I get started?
These API pages have examples for getting started, and you can find full documentation here. There should be enough to get you started, but if you have any questions please contact us via email or instant chat.
How can I just download some data as a CSV file?
Our API makes it easy for you to easily ingest data from the Solcast API into your spreadsheet or other application. You can even request data through your web browser.
The best place to start is by creating an account, and then you’ll be logged into the Solcast API Toolkit, where you can directly download data as CSV using your web browser.
How can I integrate this data?
For developers looking to go beyond the available documentation and FAQs, Solcast will be progressively adding API libraries for a range of platforms. You can also contribute a library, and Solcast will attribute you as the author.
What about payments and pricing?
Please take a look at our plans and pricing here.
Solcast loves to be able to help public researchers (including students) and home hobbyists. If you’re a public researcher you will receive additional free historical data credits. If you’re a home hobbyist, your free plan access will be boosted.
By using the API and data you obtain you agree to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
Please also refer to FAQs, and if you have any other questions please get in contact.