Introduction to Solargis Time Series and TMY API

Overview

With the Solargis Time Series and TMY data API, you can directly access accurate solar radiation and meteorological data for any location worldwide. This powerful tool lets you retrieve data at sub-hourly intervals and various aggregations, giving you everything you need for solar energy project assessments, system design, and yield estimation.

Key features include:

• Data Flexibility: Access to solar and meteorological parameters in multiple time aggregations.

• Integration Capabilities: Seamless integration with existing systems for automated data access.

• Comprehensive Data Access: Historical data for effective analysis.

• User-Friendly Interface: Easy integration into customized solutions for enhanced decision-making.

Both services offer various subscription tiers to accommodate a wide range of use cases. Detailed specification of each subscription tier, the parameters, and temporal resolutions they provide are listed in the respective subscription tier detail documents (Solargis TMY API, Solargis TS API).

Apart from the Time Series and TMY API, suitable for investigation of historical data and yield simulation, we also offer the Monitor and Forecast API, which provides operational and forecast data, suitable for monitoring and planning purposes.

TMY data API

The Solargis TMY data API provides users with TMY data tailored for specific geographical locations. Key parametric facts include:

• Temporal resolutions: TMY data is available at 15-minute and 60-minute intervals.

• Data generation: TMY is derived from multi-year time series data, ensuring statistical accuracy and representativeness (Figure 1).

• Usage in PV simulation: The API facilitates easy integration with PV simulation software, providing up to 8760 hourly values for energy simulations.

• Probability scenario: TMY files are generated for P50 scenarios only.

• API structure: The API operates as a REST API using JSON requests, with a two-part process for data generation and status polling. Access requires a subscription and authentication via API tokens.

Figure 1: An illustration of TMY data generation from the Time Series.

Tip: More details about the TMY API, endpoints, and request parameters are in the TMY API documentation.

Time Series data API

The Solargis Time Series data API provides precise solar radiation and meteorological data for any location worldwide. Key parametric facts include:

• Time resolution: Supports sub-hourly intervals, including 15 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day, 1 month, and 1 year.

• Historical data availability: Full historical data is available from 1994, depending on the region (Figure 2).

• Geographic coverage: Global coverage, excluding polar regions (Figure 2).

• API customization: Users can specify location (latitude/longitude), time range, and time resolution to retrieve tailored data.

• Data quality: The API offers validated, high-precision data derived from reliable scientific satellite models, ensuring site-specific accuracy.

• Integration capability: Seamless integration into internal applications and commercial PV simulation software for improved decision-making.

• Use cases: Ideal for solar energy project site assessment, project design, and energy yield estimation.

• Harmonized data source: Provides a unified source of data throughout the solar project lifecycle, reducing errors associated with fragmented datasets.

Figure 2: The Time Series coverage map.

More details about the Time Series API, endpoints, and request parameters are in the Time Series API documentation.