HelioClim-3 Archives automatic access

HelioClim-3 solar radiation Archives automatic access and with meteo option


   

  Automatic access is a charged service. Please contact us for a quotation

Automatic access to satellite-derived solar radiation database HelioClim-3 Archives. Please  for a quotation and receive your SoDa credentials. This type of access is particularly well-suited for monitoring applications.

Automatic access to HelioClim-3 together with meteorological data is also described. Meteo variables are extracted from MERRA-2 reanalyses (NASA) from Feb. 2004 to approx. a month ago, and from GFS (NCEP) afterwards.

Automatic access with WGET - with CURL - Error messages & FAQ

Download examples of scripts :   Without meteo - with meteo                 Without meteo - with meteo

Download WGET.EXE

   


Warning! It is strongly recommanded to avoid the launch of parallel requests, using the "&" at the end of each wget request line. This would endanger our system.

Please be attentive that the time step of the data depends on the duration:

  • Time step = 1 min or 5 min : duration is limited to 1 month of data
  • Time step = 10 min, 15 min, hour : duration is limited to 1 year of data
  • Time step = day or month : duration has no limit.

Automatic access with WGET

  1. Subscribe an annual access to HelioClim-3 Archives service (contact us)
  2. Download wget.exe in a directory (on Windows - wget is available by default on Unix)
  3. In the same directory, create a text file and copy-paste in a single line the following instruction to test this permanent access to Carpentras, France:

wget -O output.csv  --header="soda-user: guest" --header="soda-passwd: guest" "https://api.soda-solardata.com/pub/ ...
hc3v5_request.php?geopoint=44.083,5.059&elevation=-999&firstday=2012-01-01&lastday=2012-12-31&duration=h&time=UT&slope=15 ...

&azimuth=180&albedo=0.2&horizon=1&header=1&rely=1&format=unified"

  1. Rename the text file with the .bat extension and double click on it to retrieve the output.csv output file in a Windows environment. Rename the text file with a .sh extension and run it using ./my_script.sh in a Unix environment.

WGET command in details

Request:
wget -O output.csv --header="soda-user: login" --header=soda-passwd: password" ...
"https://server/pub/service_request.php?
geopoint=latitude,longitude&elevation=altitude& ...
firstday=yyyy-mm-dd&lastday=
yyyy-mm-dd&duration=time_step&time=time_reference& ...
slope=tilt_of_panels&azimuth=az_of_panels&albedo=ground_albedo&horizon=boolean_horizon& ...
header=boolean_header&rely=boolean_code&format=output_format&calibration=calib_name
&meteo_info=meteo_parameters"

Inputs:

login/password


authentication: login and password provided by the SoDa team to access HelioClim-3 within the framework of your subscription. Note that a free permanent automatic access is set up for the site of Carpentras, France, where a Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) station is available with the login/password guest/guest

server


By default, use our load balancer thanks to "api.soda-solardata.com". It will redirect your request on the fastest server available.

service


"hc3v5" or "hc3v5_meteo" if you have subscribed to meteorological data

latitude and longitude


in degrees, with at least 3 digits after comma

altitude


in meters. Set "elevation=-999" to let SoDa get the elevation from Nasa SRTM database

yyyy-mm-dd


set the first and the last days of the request. The available shortcuts to use for first and last days of the requests are: d, d-x, d+x, m, m-x, m+x, y, y-x, y+x with "x" representing numerical value, "d" = day, "m" = month, "y" = year

time_step


"1", "5", "10", "15" (minutes), "h" (hourly), "d" (daily), "m" (monthly)

time_reference


"UT" (universal time) or "TST" (True Solar Time)

tilt_of_panels


from "0" (horizontal) to "90", or "-999" for tracking

az_of_panels


from "0" (North), "90" (East), "180" (South) to "270" (West), or "-999" for tracking

ground_albedo


from "0.0" to "1.0". A usual inland value is "0.2"

More details on plane orientations and on how to set the tiltazimuth and albedo parameters

boolean_horizon


optional. Takes into account "1" or not "0" the shadowing effect due to the far horizon. If not set, default value is "0"

output_format


optional. Possible values are standard formats "excel", "netcdf" and "json"; "unified" to get Unified csv format; "classic" for Classic csv format (deprecated). Default format is "classic" for HC3 requests without meteo data. For HC3 requests with meteo data, the "classic" format is not supported and the default format is "unified".

calib_name


calibration name (default is none). Please refer to the page describing our calibration procedure or/and contact us to ask your questions and receive a quotation

meteo_parameters


optional. This option allows you to select one or several meteorological data among all: "meteo_info=temperature,relative_humidity,pressure,wind_speed,wind_dir,rain_fall,snow_fall,snow_depth". Output format is not modified: not selected meteo parameters are set to -999. Default is all meteorological parameters.

The time period max retrieved using the wget command is: one month for a 1 to 5 min time step, one year for a 10 min up to one hour time step, and unlimited for the other time steps.

Automatic access using CURL

You can also automatically retrieve HC3 Archives time series using the CURL command. The advantage is to accelerate the requests by an approx. factor of 2. Note that all parameters described in the WGET section are valid for CURL, except that CURL outputs don't have any header.

Request without meteorological data:
curl -f -s -S -F stations=@stations.txt -o output.csv --header "soda-user: guest" ...
--header "soda-passwd: guest" https://api.soda-solardata.com/pub/hc3v5_request.php
Request with meteorological data:
curl -f -s -S -F stations=@stations.txt -o output.csv --header "soda-user: guest" ...
--header "soda-passwd: guest" http://api.soda-solardata.com/pub/hc3v5_meteo_request.php


With the following stations.txt file format:

# Columns:
# id: station name
# latitude and longitude: in degrees, with at least 3 digits after comma
# altitude: in meters. Use -999 to let SoDa get the elevation from Nasa SRTM database.
# time reference: "UT" (universal time) or "TST" (True Solar Time)
# duration: "1", "5", "10", "15" (minutes), "h" (hourly), "d" (daily), "m" (monthly)
# firstday and lastday: first and the last days of the request, expressed as yyyy-mm-dd
# slope of panel: from "0" (horizontal) to "90" (deg). Use -999 for sun tracking.
# azimuth of panel: from 0° (North), 90° (East), 180° (South), ... Use -999 for sun tracking.
# ground_albedo: from "0.0" to "1.0". A usual inland value is "0.2".
# horizon: "0" to ignore relief shadows (default), "1" or "SRTM" for an horizon computed from SRTM
# calibration: calibration name (default is none)
# format: output file format. Possible values are "classic" (default) or "unified" for HC3. The only possible value is "unified" for HC3+METEO.
#
#id         lat    lon   elevation time duration firstday   lastday    slope azimuth albedo horizon calibration format
Carpentras1 44.083 5.059 -999      UT  15       2017-01-01 2017-01-05 15    180     0.2    1        ""         unified
Carpentras2 44.083 5.059 -999      UT  15       2017-01-01 2017-01-05 30    180     0.2    1        ""         unified
...