HelioClim-3 Prospection automatic access

HelioClim-3 Prospection automatic access



   

HelioClim-3 is a satellite-derived solar radiation database. It exploits the Heliosat-2 method to estimates a "cloud index", based on the analysis of the 15 minute Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite images in the visible band.

Helioclim-3 Prospection proposes the "hc3_prospection" service to get archive data.

Automatic access is a charged service. Please contact us for a quotation and receive your SoDa credentials.






HelioClim-3 Prospection
DescriptionThe "HC3 Prospection" service is in charge of helping in the prospection purpose. It retrieves historical data.
Date rangefrom "2004-02-01" up to "d-1"
Requests5 requests per year and per site
Service namehc3v5_prospection
Download examples

download unix "HC3 Prospection" examples

download windows "HC3 Prospection" examples

With METEO option

if you subscribed the METEO option, you can access the services:

  • hc3v5_meteo_prospection
  • meteo_historical
FAQError messages & FAQ

 

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


Automatic access using WGET


WGET command example ("guest" user on Carpentras location 44.083, 5.059)

wget -O output.csv --header="soda-user: guest" --header="soda-passwd: guest" "https://api.soda-solardata.com/pub/hc3v5_meteo_prospection.php?geopoint=44.083,5.059&elevation=-999&firstday=d-2&lastday=d-1&duration=15&time=UT&slope=10&azimuth=180&albedo=0.2&horizon=1&header=1&rely=0&format=unified&meteo_info=*"


WGET command in details

Request:

wget -O output.csv ...
--header="soda-user: login" --header="soda-passwd: password" ...
"https://api.soda-solardata.com/pub/service_name.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 Commcercial SoDa team. Note that a free permanent automatic access is set up for the site of Carpentras, France (44.083, 5.059) with the login/password guest/guest

service_name


"hc3v5_prospection"

if meteo option is subscribed :

"hc3v5_meteo_prospection"

latitude and longitude


in degrees, with at least 3 digits after comma

altitude (optional)


in meters.

By default, the elevation is retrieved from Nasa SRTM database.

yyyy-mm-dd


"firstday" and the "lastday" parameters of the request. It can be defined either by a numerical date YYYY-MM-DD or thanks to date shortcuts.

The available date shortcuts are : d, d-x, m, m-x, y, y-x 

  • "x" representing an integer value,
  • "d", "m", "y" stands (respectively) for day, month, year.

For instance "m-2" means "2 months ago".

time_step


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

Nota : A request with time step lower than "15 minutes" returns interpolated data.

time_reference


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

tilt_of_panels (optional)


The tilt value can be:

  • from "0" (horizontal) to "90" (vertical),
  • or "-999" for sun tracking.

More details on plane orientations and on how to set the tilt, azimuth parameters

Default is "0".

az_of_panels (optional)


The azimuth value can be:

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

More details on plane orientations and on how to set the tilt, azimuth parameters

Default is "0"

ground_albedo (optional)


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

More details on plane orientations and on how to set the albedo parameter

Default is "0.2"

boolean_horizon (optional)


Takes into account "1" or not "0" the shadowing effect due to the far horizon.

Default value is "0" (horizon is no taken into account)

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 (optional)


calibration name. Please refer to the page describing our calibration procedure or/and contact us to ask your questions and receive a quotation

Default is none.

meteo_parameters (optional)


This option is only active for service:

  • "hc3v5_meteo_prospection"

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".

The output format is not modified, even if some columns are not required. For the "non required columns" a "non-filled-value" (-999) is used.

Default is all meteorological parameters.



Automatic access using CURL

You can also automatically retrieve HC3 Prospection time series using the CURL command. The advantage is to accelerate the requests by an approx. factor of 2. CURL outputs don't have any header. This is due to the fact that each station configuration (i.e each line of the stations.txt file) can be different (tilted or not, date range, ...), so the "stations" header information (contained in header) may be differrent.

Curl command example ("guest" user on Carpentras location 44.083, 5.059)

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_meteo_prospection.php

With the following stations.txt file format:

# Columns description
 # 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". If "meteo" option is used, the only possible format is "unified".
#
#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       0          0           0.2         1            ""        unified
Carpentras2 44.083 5.059   -999           UT     h              d-10            d-2                   30      180          0.2          1            ""        unified


CURL command in details

curl -f -s -S -F stations=@my_stations.txt -o output.csv --header "soda-user: login" --header "soda-passwd: password" https://api.soda-solardata.com/pub/service_name.php

  • login, password and service_name are described in the table above.
  • The station file "my_stations.txt" should be defined with the same format as the "stations.txt" file in the previous example. The columns descriptions are available in the table above.