Solar API release notes

Subscribe to these release notes. Subscribe

This page is updated with each new release of the Solar API. The changelog lists releases by date and includes any new features, bug fixes and significant performance improvements. You can also browse and filter all release notes for all products in the Google API Console.

See the Getting Started documentation for information on how to get started using the Solar API.

October 30, 2024

Expanded Solar API coverage

Medium-quality data coverage (requests made with requiredQuality=MEDIUM and corresponding responses with imagery_quality: 'MEDIUM') has been expanded to cover new areas in Japan, Philippines, and Mexico.

For more details, see the Solar API coverage map.

April 29, 2024

Exact Quality Parameter

Users can now specify the exact quality of data layers they would like returned. dataLayers.get has a new parameter called exactQualityRequired. When it is set to true, the quality indicated by the requiredQuality field will be returned if available. Otherwise, exactQualityRequired is set to false by default. In this case, the endpoints will behave normally and return the highest quality available data.

Utility Incentives and Utility Electricity Rates Update

United States utility incentive data and utility electricity rates have been updated using data from Clean Power Research. You can access the new utility incentive amounts for each building in the UtilityIncentive field of the buildingInsights.findClosest response. The utility electricity rates are not surfaced in the API but are used in calculations for the following fields of the buildingInsights.findClosest response:

  • leasingSavings

  • cashPurchaseSavings

  • financedPurchaseSavings

  • costOfElectricityWithoutSolar

  • remainingLifetimeUtilityBill

  • solarPercentage

  • percentageExportedToGrid

Panel Dimensions and Capacity Update

Panel dimensions and capacity have been updated to match industry standards. The following changes are:

  • Panel height (meters): 1.65 → 1.879
  • Panel width (meters): 0.992 → 1.045
  • Panel capacity (watts): 250 → 400

We recommend that you continue to get these values from the panelCapacityWatts, panelHeightMeters, and panelWidthMeters fields of the buildingInsights.findClosest response.

March 21, 2024

Expanded Solar API coverage

Medium-quality data coverage (requests made with requiredQuality=MEDIUM and corresponding responses with imagery_quality: 'MEDIUM') has been expanded to cover new areas in the following regions: Hawaii, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbados.

For more details, see the Solar API coverage map.

January 16, 2024

Expanded Solar API coverage

Medium-quality data coverage (requests made with requiredQuality=MEDIUM and corresponding responses with imagery_quality: 'MEDIUM') has been expanded to cover new areas in the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Greece, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, New Zealand.

For more details, see the Solar API coverage map.

December 13, 2023

Expanded Solar API coverage

Medium-quality data coverage (requests made with requiredQuality=MEDIUM and corresponding responses with imagery_quality: 'MEDIUM') has been expanded to cover new areas in the following 21 states in the US: AK, AL, CO, DE, IA, KS, ME, MN, MO, MT, ND, NE, NM, OR, RI, SD, UT, VT, WI, WA, and WY.

For more details, see the Solar API coverage map.

November 13, 2023

Expanded Solar API coverage

Medium-quality data coverage (requests made with requiredQuality=MEDIUM and corresponding responses with imagery_quality: 'MEDIUM') has been expanded to cover new areas in the following regions:

  • United States: AR, AZ, CT, DC, GA, ID, IN, KY, LA, MD, MI, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, NV, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, VA, WV
  • Canada
  • Poland
  • Austria
  • Switzerland

For more details, see the Solar API coverage map.

October 24, 2023

Expanded Solar API coverage

Medium-quality data coverage (requests made with requiredQuality=MEDIUM and corresponding responses with imagery_quality: 'MEDIUM') now includes most of California, Texas, Massachusetts, and Illinois. For more information, see the Solar API coverage map.

August 08, 2023

Solar API

Announcing the General Availability (GA) release of the Solar API. See the Release Notes for information about this release and for all other releases.

If you are a new user, see Set Up in the Google Cloud Console to start the installation process.

2023-06-29

In July of 2023, Google will release a change to the format of URLs returned in the response to a call to a Data Layers request. To prepare for this release, write your apps to support both URL formats. By preparing for the new URL format now, your apps will not be affected by this update.

For more information, see Data Layers request.

2023-05-09

  • Launched a restricted preview of the new Solar API, hosted as part of Google Maps Platform on Google Cloud. This new API will replace the now-deprecated EarthEngineSolar API, and, to minimize disruption, we encourage you to migrate as soon as feasible.
    • Revamped project-level access
      • To get access, please reach out to your contact on the Solar API team.
      • Access is manually granted on a per-project basis, and is independent from access to the EarthEngineSolar API.
    • Added new documentation
    • Set new terms of service
    • Integrated with Cloud Monitoring and Cloud Billing
      • Calls to Solar API endpoints will begin appearing on projects' Billing Dashboard (with a 100% discount during the Preview).
    • Renamed endpoints and methods
      • earthenginesolar.googleapis.com -> solar.googleapis.com
      • solarInfo:get -> dataLayers:get
      • buildings:findClosest -> buildingInsights:findClosest
    • Configured new quota limits
  • Deprecated the existing EarthEngineSolar API.
    • The deprecated EarthEngineSolar API will continue to work while the new Solar API is in Preview.
  • Expanded medium-quality (imagery_quality: 'MEDIUM') data coverage
    • Expanded medium-quality data availability for Germany, the UK, France, Spain, Italy, and Florida.
    • Expanded medium-quality financial data availability (via BuildingInsights) for a significantly larger portion of Florida.

2022-02-28

  • Added different quality levels of data.
  • Added quality level to returned data.
  • Added ability to specify the required quality level.

2020-09-08

  • Added dataset specifier for early access to non-production data.
  • Added specification of panel parameters (width, height, name, place, capacity, lifetime).
  • Added height of roof segments.
  • Added information about building ground footprints.
  • Added information about unsegmented roof size.
  • Added panel-by-panel production values.

2019-06-21

  • Added bounding boxes to building and roof segment structures.
  • Added segment index to roof segment summaries, to unambiguously link each summary to more detailed information.
  • Added documentation for new raster endpoint which will allow access to imagery and detailed solar potential information.

2018-07-20

Initial release.