Solar Potential API

About the Solar Potential API

Pass geographic coordinates to receive average daily usable sunlight hours and the optimal compass orientation for photovoltaic panels. Paid plans include raw annual sunlight hours, cloud cover reduction factors, and weather-adjusted yearly totals. An estimation disclaimer accompanies each response.

What people use it for

Rooftop Solar Quoting

Installers compute daily sunlight hours and recommended panel orientation when generating preliminary equipment estimates for homeowner leads.

Real Estate Listings

Property portals display average daily sunlight and optimal panel orientation directly on home profile pages to highlight green energy readiness.

Off-Grid Site Selection

Before deploying remote monitoring hardware, field engineers check local solar exposure to verify whether small solar arrays can sustain battery levels.

Building Architecture Design

To guide passive solar layouts, architects query candidate coordinates for panel headings and daily sunlight availability.

Ways to call it

One endpoint, many ways in — REST with JSON, XML, YAML and CSV, plus GraphQL and an MCP interface for AI agents.

JSON

Default REST response

XML

Markup format

YAML

Human-readable

CSV

Tabular export

Beta

GraphQL

Query language

New

MCP

For AI agents

Request parameters — GET /v1/solarpotential

Sent in the query string. Premium parameters are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them. Anything not listed here is dropped rather than passed through.

Required

1
2

curl "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/solarpotential?lat=37.7749&lon=-122.4194" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Authentication

Send your key in the x-api-key header. That is the only auth step — no token exchange, and no per-endpoint scope to configure.

Response — GET /v1/solarpotential

Every APIVerve endpoint returns the same three top-level keys, so one response handler covers your whole integration: status, error and data. Only data changes shape.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "coordinates": {
      "latitude": 37.7749,
      "longitude": -122.4194
    },
    "usableHours": {
      "avgDailyUsableSunlightHours": 12.19,
      "yearlyUsableSunlightHoursRaw": 4448,
      "adjustedYearlyUsableSunlightHours": 1557
    },
    "bestDirection": "South",
    "cloudFactor": 0.35,
    "disclaimer": "This is a rough estimate based on coordinates and general climate patterns. For precise solar potential, consider local weather patterns, obstructions, and professional assessments."
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Response headers

Every response carries your balance, so your own code always knows where it stands without polling anything. All four are exposed to browsers through CORS.

Errors

Read the HTTP status first, then error for the specific reason. The body names the parameter that has to change.

What a call costs — 2 credits per call

Credits are shared across every APIVerve API — one balance, one key, one bill. Failed requests never count against it, so a rejected input costs nothing.

Calls are what the credits buy at this API's rate — spend them here, on any of the other APIs, or across both. Nothing is reserved per endpoint.

Zero-code embed — one snippet, no backend

Drop an interactive Solar Potential form onto any page. The widget calls the API for you, so no key ever appears in your markup and there is nothing to deploy.

Changelog — Solar Potential API

Every change to this endpoint, newest first. Breaking changes ship as a new version and the previous one keeps serving — response fields are added, never removed or retyped in place, so an integration written against v1 keeps working.

Currently v1