Typical Meteorological Year

Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) data for solar energy simulations and yield analysis
HISTORICAL AND TMY

A collation of historical weather data derived from a multi-year time series selected to present the unique weather phenomena with annual averages that are consistent with long term averages.

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CLOUD AND IRRADIANCE TRACKING

Tracking the world's clouds in the finest detail

Designed for Solar, from the ground up. Never rely on generic weather model data again. Solcast's real time and forecast data tracks and forecasts real clouds at a resolution of 1-2km and 5 minutes. Our irradiance and PV power data is updated every 5 to 15 minutes. Aerosol and albedo effects are explicitly treated.

INTEGRATE

Integrate directly with your PV software, or upload with multiple file format options

Solcast data is available directly in PVSyst, SAM, PlantPredict and PV*Sol. Support for other softwares via industry standard data formats.

DATA ACCESS

Multiple probabilistic scenarios available for due diligence and solar resource assessment

Direct API download for TMY P50 data. TMY PXX scenarios (P75, P90, P95) downloads through the Solcast API Toolkit. Multiple file types supported (CSV, PVsyst, TMY3, SAM).

VALIDATION

Dataset supported by independent global validation

The data has low uncertainty and a quantified error range, making the data suitable for resource assessment, yield analysis, financial modelling, and any application requiring precision irradiance data.

TMY Data Specifications

Geographic coverage

Global, except for ocean and polar regions.

Temporal coverage

2007 to 2018

Temporal resolution

60 minutes (period-mean values)

Spatial resolution

2km (irradiance and cloud parameters, over all non-polar continental areas and nearby islands)

27km (other parameters, and polar or remote oceanic regions)

Pxx (Probability of exceedance)

P50, P75, P90, P95

Data parameters

The following data parameters are available.

  • UTC timestamp (period end, period)
  • Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) (W/m2)
  • Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) (W/m2)
  • Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance (DHI) (W/m2)
  • Global Tilted Irradiance (GTI) (W/m2)
  • Cloud Opacity (%)
  • Air Temperature (°C)
  • Solar Zenith Angle (°)
  • Solar Azimuth Angle (°)
  • Albedo Daily (%)
  • Wind Speed (10m) (m/s)
  • Wind Direction (10m) (°)
  • Relative Humidity (%)
  • Surface Pressure (hPa)
  • Precipitable Water (kg/m2)
  • Dewpoint Temperature (°C)
  • Snow Depth Water Equivalent (cm)
Data access

Via the Solcast Web Toolkit & Solcast API

Download wait time

Web Toolkit: typically 5 minutes API: less than 100ms

File formats

CSV, JSON

Data formats

Solcast standard, PVsyst, SAM, TMY3

Time zone

UTC (default for Solcast), longitudinal (default for SAM, PVsyst, TMY), or user-set

Historic Data Products

Time Series
The complete suite of irradiance and weather data required for effective monitoring, operation, and forecasting at your large-scale solar farm.
Typical Meteorological Year (TMY)
The complete suite of irradiance and weather data required for effective monitoring, operation, and forecasting at your large-scale solar farm.
Monthly Averages
The complete suite of irradiance and weather data required for effective monitoring, operation, and forecasting at your large-scale solar farm.