In this document
You will learn what the Solargis Monitor & Forecast services are and gather detailed information about their subscription plans and specifications.
Overview
Solargis Monitor and Forecast API services provide access to solar resource and climate data and some calculated parameters such as PVOUT from up to 1 year back to 1 day before the current date (Monitor), and from the present moment up to 14 days ahead (Forecast); both services overlap for the current day through Nowcast.
The data provided by Solargis Monitor and Forecast APIs are sourced from a combination of high-resolution satellite observations, advanced atmospheric models, and ground-based measurements, ensuring robust and reliable information for solar resource assessment and forecasting. You can read more about the data sources and quality here.
Each API data service (Monitor & Forecast) has dedicated subscription plans to accommodate your needs, and they align with the offerings in the Solargis Product Catalog. You can learn more about the respective data service and how to interpret its data in the dedicated Monitor or Forecast data service sections.
Specific subscriptions are identified with their product codes and may consist of multiple API services segregated by API service codes for easy identification, each covering various use cases (i.e., different datasets). For each API Service, a separate API Access is required, which includes an access token with its validity period and usage limits. For more details, refer to the subscription plans below.
Note: You can learn about how to set up the Monitro & Forecast API data service in our API documentation.
Solargis Monitor API service plans & specifications
Subscription plan: Monitor Basic
Monitor Basic consists of three API services distinguished by the API service code: D11-M1, D11-MMR, and D11-MMHIST03.
API service for accessing updates of operational data every day. Includes recent history.
Recommended: Requesting past 1-2 days every day, and requesting longer history only occasionally for e.g. gap filling.
Not recommended: Requesting 40 days of history every day.
Product code | API Service code | Access to data from | Access to data to | Update rate | Maximum time resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D11 | D11-M1 | DAY -40 | DAY -1 | 1x Per Day | Hourly |
The specific API service is designed to pull monthly reanalyzed (definitive) solar and PV data. Reanalyzed datasets become available on the 3rd day of each month.
Recommended: Requesting reanalyzed dataset after the 3rd day of the month, and replacing operational data (from D11-M1 service) with the reanalyzed data in Customer’s internal archive.
Updating analyses made using operational data with reanalyzed data.
Not recommended: Requesting reanalyzed datasets before the 3rd day of the month. Not updating analyses made using operational data.
Product code | API Service code | Access to data from | Access to data to | Update rate | Maximum time resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D11 | D11-MMR | MONTH -1 START | MONTH -1 END | 1x Per Month | Hourly |
API service for one-time pull of historical datasets and for backfilling purposes.
Recommended: Data for the previous month should be interpreted as reanalyzed (definitive) only if the request was sent on the 3rd calendar day or later.
Product code | API Service code | Access to data from | Access to data to | Update rate | Maximum time resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D11 | D11-MMHIST03 | MONTH -3 START | DAY -1 | One-time data | Hourly |
Subscription plan: Monitor Professional
Monitor Professional consists of three API services distinguished by the API service code: D12-M1, D12-MMR, and MHIST12.
API service for accessing updates of operational data every day. Includes recent history.
Recommended: Requesting past 1-2 days every day, and requesting longer history only occasionally for e.g. gap filling.
Not recommended: Requesting 40 days of history every day.
Product code | API Service code | Access to data from | Access to data to | Update rate | Maximum time resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D12 | D12-M1 | DAY -40 | DAY -1 | 1x Per Day | 5 minutes |
Specific API service is designed for pulling monthly reanalyzed (definitive) solar and PV data. Reanalyzed datasets become available on the 3rd day of each month.
Recommended: Requesting reanalyzed dataset after the 3rd day of the month, and replacing operational data (from D11-M1 service) with the reanalyzed data in Customer’s internal archive.
Updating analyses made using operational data with reanalyzed data.
Not recommended: Requesting reanalyzed datasets before the 3rd day of the month. Not updating analyses made using operational data.
Product code | API Service code | Access to data from | Access to data to | Update rate | Maximum time resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D12 | D12-MMR | MONTH -1 START | MONTH -1 END | 1x Per Month | 5 minutes |
API service for one-time pull of historical datasets and for backfilling purposes.
Recommended: Data for the previous month should be interpreted as reanalyzed (definitive) only if the request was sent on the 3rd calendar day or later.
Product code | API Service code | Access to data from | Access to data to | Update rate | Maximum time resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D12 | D12-MHIST12 | MONTH -12 START | DAY -1 | One-time Data | 5 minutes |
Subscription plan: Monitor Real Time
API service for real-time monitoring that can be accessed every 5, 10, or 15 minutes depending on the region (please check the map below).
Recommended:
Treating the data for now as coming from Nowcast, and hence with slightly higher uncertainty than operational data (approx. 15 min ago and older).
The operational data will be updated in the reanalysis runs the next 2 days, and the next month, and hence data from Monitor Real-Time should be updated from Monitor Basic/Professional service.
Not recommended:
Expecting data for now (coming from the nowcasting) to be definitive and not changing.
Expecting the data for now (coming from the nowcasting) to be 100% accurate.
Product code | API Service code | Access to data from | Access to data to | Update rate | Maximum time resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D15 | D15-MRT1 | DAY 0 | DAY 0 | Rapid Updates* | 5 minutes |
Solargis Forecast API service plans & specifications
Subscription plan: Forecast Basic
You may access the API up to four times within any 24-hour period, with at least 6 hours between each request to ensure updated datasets.
Example request times could be 00:00, 06:00, 12:00, and 18:00; however, maintaining a minimum 6-hour interval between calls is more important than the exact timing.
The Forecast Basic API provides:
Short-term forecasts for days 1 through 7.
Nowcast and intraday data for the current day.
Product code | API Service code | Access to data from | Access to data to | Update rate | Maximum time resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C11 | C11-F07 | DAY 0 | DAY 7 | 4x Per Day | Hourly |
Subscription plan: Forecast Professional
Forecast Professional consists of two API services distinguished by the API service code: C12-INTR1 and C12-F14.
You can access the API for intraday nowcasting and forecasting every 5, 10, or 15 minutes, depending on your region. Please check the map below to confirm the update frequency for your area.
Rapid updates are available from the current time up to approximately 3 hours ahead, providing frequently refreshed data within this window.
For forecast periods beyond 3 hours ahead, data is updated four times per day (every 6 hours). No rapid updates are available for these longer timeframes.
Recommended: Data beyond HOUR 3 should be interpreted as updated 4x per day (i.e. every 6 hours), with no rapid updates.
Not recommended: Expecting data beyond HOUR 3 to update more often than every 6 hours.
Product code | API Service code | Access to data from | Access to data to | Update rate | Maximum time resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C12 | C12-INTR1 | DAY 0 | DAY 0 | Rapid Updates* | 5 minutes |
You can access the API up to four times per day (within any 24-hour period), with a minimum interval of 6 hours between each request to obtain updated datasets.
Example request times could be 00:00, 06:00, 12:00, and 18:00; however, maintaining a 6-hour gap between calls is more important than the exact timing.
The service provides forecasts for days 1 through 14, with updates occurring four times per day (every 6 hours).
Product code | API Service code | Access to data from | Access to data to | Update rate | Maximum time resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C12 | C12-F14 | DAY 1 | DAY 14 | 4x Per Day | 5 minutes |
Note: The C12-INTR (Forecast Professional) and the D15-MRT1 (Monitor real Time) are technically the same service - data for the current day (whole day) with up to 5 min time resolution, and up to 5 minute update rate (see below for update rates). This is because our API request is based on whole days, not by hours.
Rapid updates
Rapid update is a shortcut term for sub-hourly update rate. The precise update rate depends on the geographical location, since it is determined by the update rate of the relevant satellite mission. Refer to the map below for Rapid Updates update rates - note that even if the map shows update rate of Forecast data, this is relevant to Monitor services as well, since the values of Monitor Real Time for now come from the nowcast satellite data (Cloud Motion Vectors model).
