Forecast
Rooftop PV Power

Get Forecast Rooftop PV

Changed on

Get basic rooftop PV power forecasts from the present time up to 14 days ahead for the requested location, derived from satellite (clouds and irradiance over non-polar continental areas, nowcasted for approx. four hours ahead) and numerical weather models (other data and longer horizons).

The basic rooftop power simulation is only suitable for residential and smaller C&I rooftop sites, not for grid-scale sites.

get/data/forecast/rooftop_pv_power

Request

  • Base URL
    https://api.solcast.com.au (the document declares no server; this is the origin it was published from)
  • URL
    https://api.solcast.com.au/data/forecast/rooftop_pv_power
  • Auth
    none declared

Query parameters

hoursinteger nullable

The number of hours to return in the response.

output_parametersstring[]

The output parameters to include in the response.

period'PT5M' | 'PT10M' | 'PT15M' | 'PT20M' | 'PT30M' | 'PT60M' nullable

Length of the averaging period in ISO 8601 duration format. Default is PT30M.

latitudenumber double nullable required

The latitude of the location you request data for. Must be a decimal number between -90 and 90.

longitudenumber double nullable required

The longitude of the location you request data for. Must be a decimal number between -180 and 180.

capacitynumber float required

The capacity of the inverter (AC) or the modules (DC), whichever is greater, in kilowatts (kW).

tiltnumber float nullable

The angle (degrees) that the PV system is tilted off the horizontal. A tilt of 0 means the system faces directly upwards, and 90 means the system is vertical and facing the horizon. If you don't specify tilt, we use a default tilt angle based on the latitude you specify in your request. Must be between 0 and 90.

azimuthnumber float nullable

The azimuth is defined as the angle (degrees) from true north that the PV system is facing. An azimuth of 0 means the system is facing true north. Positive values are anticlockwise, so azimuth is -90 for an east-facing system and 135 for a southwest-facing system. If you don't specify an azimuth, we use a default value of 0 (north facing) in the southern hemisphere and 180 (south-facing) in the northern hemisphere.

install_datestring nullable

The date (yyyy-MM-dd) of installation of the PV system. We use this to estimate your loss_factor based on the ageing of your system. If you provide us with a loss_factor directly, we will ignore this date.

loss_factornumber float nullable

Default is 0.90 A factor to reduce your output forecast from the full capacity based on characteristics of the PV array or inverter. This is effectively the non-temperature loss effects on the nameplate rating of the PV system, including inefficiency and soiling. For a 1kW PV system anything that reduces 1000W/m2 solar radiation from producing 1000W of power output (assuming temperature is 25C). Valid values are between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0.6 equals 60%). If you specify 0.6 your returned power will be a maximum of 60% of AC capacity.

terrain_shadingboolean

If true, irradiance parameters are modified based on the surrounding terrain from a 90m-horizontal-resolution digital elevation model. The direct component of irradiance is set to zero when the beam from the sun is blocked by the terrain. The diffuse component of irradiance is reduced throughout the day if the sky view at the location is significantly reduced by the surrounding terrain. Global irradiance incorporates both effects.

format'json' | 'csv' nullable

Response format. Default is HTML if not supplied.

apply_snow_soilingnumber double nullable

A user-override for Solcast’s dynamic snow soiling, which is based on global snow cover and weather forecast data, and changes from hour to hour. If you specify this parameter in your API call (e.g. if snow clearing has just been performed), we will replace the Solcast dynamic hour to hour value with the single value you specify. E.g. if you specify a 0.7 snow soiling, your returned power will be reduced by 70%.

Response

OK

forecastsobject[] nullable

Changes

    • info

      added the new optional query request parameter apply_snow_soiling

    • info

      added the enum value pv_power_rooftop to the property items/ of the query request parameter output_parameters

    • info

      added the enum value pv_power_rooftop10 to the property items/ of the query request parameter output_parameters

    • info

      added the enum value pv_power_rooftop90 to the property items/ of the query request parameter output_parameters