Weather Library

The weather library displays all available weather files. A weather file can be added by selecting Import Weather.

Once selected, a new screen is presented prompting the selection of weather file format. PlantPredict supports many weather file formats such as Solar Prospector, NREL TMY3, Meteonorm TMY3, Geomodel Solar, etc.

Once the correct weather file format is selected, choose the file to be imported. Upon import completion, the newly added weather file is displayed in the list of available weather files.

Weather file summaries, charts and raw data can be viewed by selecting any available weather file listed.

Weather file comparison can also be made by pressing Compare and selecting 2 or more weather files. Sub hourly weather is also accepted using the PlantPredict format if the timestamp is correctly adjusted.

Weather Data Providers

PlantPredict offers many different resources for downloading and acquiring weather data.

*Denotes a free weather provider

NSRDB SUNY*

National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) SUNY developed using the Perez semi-empirical satellite model. Link to provider source.

 

NSRDB PSM*

National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) using the Physical Solar Model (PSM), offering users the latest available data (1998–2014). Link to provider source.

 

Clean Power Research

Limited free trial of SolarAnywhere’s web service providing programmatic access to Clean Power Research irradiance and weather datasets. Link to provider source.

 

Meteonorm

Limited free trial of Meteonorm’s web service containing 8,325 weather stations, five geostationary satellites. Interpolation models deliver global data. Link to provider source.

 

SolarGIS

Limited free trial of monthly average solar resource data from SolarGIS fed through a synthetic weather generator. Link to provider source.

 

NASA-SSE*

 Freely available monthly data from the NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center Surface meteorological and Solar Energy (SSE) web portal supported by the NASA LaRC POWER Project fed through a synthetic hourly weather generator. Link to provider source.

Weather Vendor API Access Guide

In order to enable truly seamless end-to-end utility-scale PV modeling, PlantPredict allows its users to access weather data from 3rd-party weather vendors.

Below are links to our weather vendor partners. Users can purchase a license and integrate it directly into PlantPredict, so that you and your colleagues can access high-quality 3rd-party weather data without leaving the PlantPredict web page. We currently offer the below two options, but are actively working with more weather vendors around the world to provide a thorough catalog of weather data for our users.

When you speak with the vendor, remember to mention that you intend to use your API key in PlantPredict.

Step 1: Navigate to Account Manager (you must be Account Admin for your company to view this page)

 

Step 2: Navigate to Default Settings

 

Step 3: Navigate to Weather Vendors

 

 

Step 4: Input Weather Vendor API Key(s)

 

Step 5: Save Default Settings