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 15 years back) data is available via web API download.
Try it now, free
You are welcome to try all Solcast API features in an extended Evaluation Mode until March 2019. This includes the ability to add 1 new Utility Scale solar farm, Rooftop, or Weather site (radiation data), access Live and Forecast data, and download ‘Recent’ historical data.
Once you register and verify your email address you will 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?
Our API documentation pages have examples for getting started with Solar Radiation, Utility Scale and Rooftop Solar API calls, and will soon feature full documentation. 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 download some data?
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.
Solcast makes it easy to select your preferred format in the query string in your API request URL to directly request JSON, XML, JSV and CSV formats (e.g. …&api_key=YOUR_KEY&format=csv). First, ensure that you are logged in to the Solcast webpage in a web browser session. Second, you can inspect the data by calling the API directly from your web browser as detailed in the documentation pages.
An example Simple Radiation API call in the web browser is:
https://api.solcast.com.au/radiation/forecasts?Longitude=149.117&Latitude=-35.277
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?
Credit card payments, including a 14 day free trial, will be introduced in early 2019. Contact us if you want to discuss pricing or terms. Solcast aims to maintain free access to data for public researchers, students and hobbyists – don’t hesitate to build something awesome!
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.