Solar Radiation API

Solar Radiation API description

This product provides users with current, forecast and historical solar radiation data for any coordinates on the globe.

Solar Radiation API is designed to help users to evaluate solar performance as accurately as possible. We provide not only the set of necessary indices, but also consider them in the Clear Sky and Cloudy Sky models.

Each of the following indices provides for both clear sky and cloudy sky models:

The detailed information about what technologies, algorithms, etc. are behind the Solar Radiation API can be founded here.

The solar radiation forecast is available for 16 days ahead and has the following step (granularity):

  • [1st hour - 120th hour] - 1-hour step
  • [121st hour - end] - 3-hour step

Historical solar radiation data is available from 1st January 1979 with 1-hour step.

Please note, that current and forecast solar data are included in the Solar Radiation subscription (please see details in pricing); historical solar data needs to be procured separately by contacting OpenWeather team via info@openweathermap.org.

How to get access to solar data

  1. Sign up to OpenWeather service in case you haven't got your API key yet.
  2. Follow the pricing page to learn details about the API limits and monthly price of Solar Radiation subscription.
  3. Please contact our support team to process your payment and set up access to Solar Radiation API for your API key.

To learn more about Solar Radiation API (how to make an API call, samples, parameters), please read the next sections of the current documentation.

Current solar radiation data

To get access to current solar radiation data, please use this section of the documentation. Please read the "Forecast solar radiation data" section and "Historical solar radiation data" section in case you are looking for another dataset.

API call

https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/solar_radiation?lat={lat}&lon={lon}&appid={API key}
Parameters
lat, lon required Geographical coordinates (latitude, longitude). If you need the geocoder to automatic convert city names and zip-codes to geo coordinates and the other way around, please use our Geocoding API.
appid required Your unique API key (you can always find it on your account page under the "API key" tab)

Example of API request

https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/solar_radiation?lat=53.2734&lon=-7.77832031&appid={API key} 
                
{
  "coord": {
    "lon": -7.7783,
    "lat": 53.2734
  },
  "list": [
    {
      "radiation": {
        "ghi": 206.68,
        "dni": 2.27,
        "dhi": 204.83,
        "ghi_cs": 826.71,
        "dni_cs": 885.47,
        "dhi_cs": 114.93
      },
      "dt": 1627909200
    }
  ]
}

Forecast solar radiation data

To get access to forecast solar radiation data, please use this section of the documentation. Please read the "Current solar radiation data" section and "Historical solar radiation data" section in case you are looking for another dataset.

API call

https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/solar_radiation/forecast?lat={lat}&lon={lon}&appid={API key}
Parameters
lat, lon required Geographical coordinates (latitude, longitude)
appid required Your unique API key (you can always find it on your account page under the "API key" tab)

Example of API request

https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/solar_radiation/forecast?lat=53.2734&lon=-7.77832031&appid={API key} 
                
{
  "coord": {
    "lon": -7.7783,
    "lat": 53.2734
  },
  "list": [
    {
      "radiation": {
        "ghi": 199.52,
        "dni": 2,
        "dhi": 197.94,
        "ghi_cs": 798.07,
        "dni_cs": 877.92,
        "dhi_cs": 113.36
      },
      "dt": 1627905600
    },
    {
      "radiation": {
        "ghi": 206.68,
        "dni": 2.27,
        "dhi": 204.83,
        "ghi_cs": 826.71,
        "dni_cs": 885.47,
        "dhi_cs": 114.93
      },
      "dt": 1627909200
    },
    .....

Historical solar radiation data

To get access to historical solar radiation data, please use this section of the documentation. Please read the "Current solar radiation data" section and "Forecast solar radiation data" section in case you are looking for another dataset.

API call

https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/solar_radiation/history?lat={lat}&lon={lon}&start={start}&end={end}&appid={API key}
Parameters
lat, lon required Geographical coordinates (latitude, longitude)
start required Start date (unix time, UTC time zone), e.g. start=1634342400
end required End date (unix time, UTC time zone), e.g. start=1634428800
appid required Your unique API key (you can always find it on your account page under the "API key" tab)

To avoid receiving possible API errors we recommend you specify the time period in API requests no more than a year.

Example of API request

https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/solar_radiation/history?lat=51.5098&lon=-0.1180&start=1634342400&end=1634428800appid={API key} 
                
{
  "coord": {
    "lon": -0.118,
    "lat": 51.5098
  },
  "list": [
    {
      "radiation": {
        "ghi": 199.52,
        "dni": 2,
        "dhi": 197.94,
        "ghi_cs": 798.07,
        "dni_cs": 877.92,
        "dhi_cs": 113.36
      },
      "dt": 1634342400
    },
    {
      "radiation": {
        "ghi": 206.68,
        "dni": 2.27,
        "dhi": 204.83,
        "ghi_cs": 826.71,
        "dni_cs": 885.47,
        "dhi_cs": 114.93
      },
      "dt": 1634346000
    },
    .....

Solar radiation API response

The list of parameters for current solar radiation data is the same as for forecast data.

Example of the API response
                   
{
  "coord": {
    "lon": -114.6244,
    "lat": 32.7243
  },
  "list": [
    {
      "radiation": {
        "ghi": 206.68,
        "dni": 2.27,
        "dhi": 204.83,
        "ghi_cs": 826.71,
        "dni_cs": 885.47,
        "dhi_cs": 114.93
      },
      "dt": 1618232400
    }
  ]
}

Fields in API response

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