In this document
You will learn what services, data types, and features are included in every Forecast subscription tier.
Forecast subscription parameters table
The following table details all parameters available in Solargis Forecast services. It specifies the units and source of each parameter.
Parameter | Acronym | Unit | Type | Source | Forecast Basic | Forecast Professional/ Enterprise | Forecast: Historical Period | Forecast: Portfolio Aggregation |
Global Horizontal Irradiation | GHI | kWh/m2, Wh/m2, W/m2 | Solar | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES | YES |
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Direct Normal Irradiation | DNI | kWh/m2, Wh/m2, W/m2 | Solar | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES | YES |
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Diffuse Horizontal Irradiation | DIF | kWh/m2, Wh/m2, W/m2 | Solar | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES | YES |
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Global Tilted Irradiation for fixed tilt | GTI fixed | kWh/m2, Wh/m2, W/m2 | Solar | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES | YES |
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Global Tilted Irradiation for tracker | GTI tracker | kWh/m2, Wh/m2, W/m2 | Solar | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES |
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Clear-sky Global Horizontal Irradiation | GHI C | kWh/m2, Wh/m2, W/m2 | Solar | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES |
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Clear-sky Direct Normal Irradiation | DNI C | kWh/m2, Wh/m2, W/m2 | Solar | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES |
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Global tilted clear-sky irradiance | GHI C | kWh/m2, Wh/m2, W/m2 | Solar | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES | ||
GHI high estimate (10 % probability of exceedance) | GHI UNC HIGH | kWh/m2, Wh/m2, W/m2 | Solar | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES |
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GHI low estimate (90 % probability of exceedance) | GHI UNC LOW | kWh/m2, Wh/m2, W/m2 | Solar | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES |
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GTI high estimate (10 % probability of exceedance) | GTI UNC HIGH | kWh/m2, Wh/m2, W/m2 | Solar | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES |
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GTI low estimate (90 % probability of exceedance) | GTI UNC LOW | kWh/m2, Wh/m2, W/m2 | Solar | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES |
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Photo-synthetically Active Irradiation | PAR | kWh/m2, Wh/m2, W/m2 | Solar | Solargis | YES |
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Cloud identification quality flag (4) | CI_FLAG | - | Solar | Solargis | YES | YES |
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Alias for CI_FLAG | FLAG_R | - | Solar | Solargis | YES | YES |
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Sun Altitude (Elevation) Angle | SE | ° | Solar | Solargis | YES | YES |
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Sun Azimuth Angle | SA | ° | Solar | Solargis | YES | YES |
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Clear-sky index | KC | - | Solar | Solargis CMV | YES |
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Deprecated alias of KC. Can be discontinued in future versions. | KTM | - | Solar |
| YES |
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Clearness index | KT | - | Solar | Solargis CMV | YES |
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Incidence angle of direct irradiance (2) | INC | ° | Solar | Solargis | YES |
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Photovoltaic Output for fixed-tilt PV modules | PVOUT fixed | kW, kWh | PV | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES | YES | YES |
Photovoltaic Output for PV modules on trackers | PVOUT tracker | kW, kWh | PV | Solargis CMV, NWP |
| YES | YES | YES |
PVOUT high estimate (10 % probability of exceedance) | PVOUT UNC HIGH | kW, kWh | PV | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES | YES | |
PVOUT low estimate (90 % probability of exceedance) | PVOUT UNC LOW | kW, kWh | PV | Solargis CMV, NWP | YES | YES | YES | |
PV module temperature (1) | TMOD | °C | PV | Solrargis | YES |
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Tilt of inclined surface (2) | TILT | ° | PV | Solargis | YES | YES | ||
Aspect of inclined surface (2) | ASPECT | ° | PV | Solargis | YES | YES |
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Air Temperature at 2 meters | TEMP | °C | Climate | NWP | YES | YES | YES |
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Wet Bulb Temperature | WBT | °C | Climate | NWP | YES |
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Dew Point Temperature | TD | °C | Climate | NWP | YES |
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Wind Speed | WS | m/s | Climate | NWP | YES | YES | YES |
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Wind Direction | WD | ° | Climate | NWP | YES | YES | YES |
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Wind Gust | WG | m/s | Climate | NWP | YES |
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Wind speed at 100 meters | WS100 | m/s | Climate | NWP | YES |
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Wind direction at 100 meters | WD100 | ° | Climate | NWP | YES |
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Atmospheric Pressure | AP | hPa | Climate | NWP | YES | YES |
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Relative Humidity | RH | % | Climate | NWP | YES | YES |
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Precipitable Water | PWAT | kg/m2 | Climate | NWP | YES | YES |
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Precipitation Rate | PREC | mm/h | Climate | NWP | YES | YES |
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Water equivalent of accumulated snow depth | SDWE | kg/m2 | Climate | NWP | YES | YES |
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Deprecated alias of SDWE. Can be discontinued in future versions (3) | SWE | kg/m2 | Climate | NWP | YES |
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Water equivalent of fresh snowfall rate | SFWE | kg/m2/hour | Climate | NWP | YES |
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1.This parameter needs a PV system defined in the request, at least in a minimal setup, e.g., <pv:system installedPower="1"><pv:module type="CSI"/><pv:inverter/><pv:losses/></pv:system> .
2.This parameter needs GTI or PVOUT in the request.
3.SDWE will be returned in a response.
4.This parameter is represented as 'flagR' in the response.
Forecast model details
The spatial resolution and update rate of Solargis Forecast for a particular location and time horizon depends on the forecast model used. Solargis Forecast uses several forecasting models – our proprietary Cloud Motion Vector (CMV) model, and four different Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. These models are summarized in the table below.
As a general statement, nowcasts and short-term forecasts for solar and PV parameters are derived from the Solargis CMV model, with sub-hourly update rates, and ~4 km spatial resolution. Forecasts for meteorological parameters for any time horizon, solar and PV parameters beyond approximately the next 3 hours are derived from a blend of NWP models, with an update rate of 6 hours, and at least ~13 km spatial resolution. In the continental USA, the forecast for the next 2 days is available with an hourly update rate and approximately 3 km spatial resolution.
Model | Coverage | Temporal coverage up to | Spatial resolution | Update rate |
CMV model by Solargis | Global | Next approx. 3 hours | 0.033° (~4 km) | 5 minutes in the contiguous USA 10 minutes in the Americas and East Asia/Pacific 15 minutes in Europe, Africa, and Asia |
Continental USA | D+2 | ~3 km | Hourly | |
Global | D+7 | ~13 km | 6 hours globally | |
Global | D+10 | ~8 km | 6 hours globally | |
Global | D+14 | ~13 km | 6 hours globally |
Forecast plans - technical details
| Forecast Basic | Forecast Professional | Forecast Enterprise | Forecast: Historical Period | Forecast: Portfolio Aggregation |
Geographical coverage | Land surface and coastal seas between latitudes 60°N to 56°S and between 60°N and 65°N in Scandinavia and America (Figure 1) | ||||
Temporal resolution (time step) | Hourly | Up to 5 minutes | Up to 5 minutes | Up to 5 minutes | Up to 5 minutes |
Temporal coverage | Today to D+7 | Today to D+14 | Today to D+14 | Past two complete calendar years for horizons H+0, H+1, H+2, H+3 D+0 D+1, D+2, D+3 | Today to D+14 |
Data update rate for up to approx. 3 hours ahead | Six hours | Up to 5 minutes for PVOUT, GHI, DNI, DIF, GTI (including clear sky and uncertainty variants - Figure 1) Six hours for all other parameters One hour for all other parameters in CONUS | Up to 5 minutes for PVOUT, GHI, DNI, DIF, GTI (including clear sky and uncertainty variants - Figure 1) Six hours for all other parameters One hour for all other parameters in CONUS | n/a | Up to 5 minutes (Figure 1)
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Data update rate for data beyond approximately 3 hours ahead | Six hours | Six hours One hour in CONUS up to D+2 | Six hours One hour in CONUS up to D+2 | n/a | Six hours |
Figure 1: Geographical availability of Solargis Forecast data