pypvwatts

A NREL PVWAtts API v4 thin Python wrapper built around requests library.

PVWatts API v4 Documentation: http://developer.nrel.gov/docs/solar/pvwatts-v4/

Python requests library: http://docs.python-requests.org/en/latest/

Installing

pypvwatts can be installed using distutils/setuptools, either using the setup.py included or directly over PyPi package repository:

Using PyPi

$ pip install pypvwatts

Download the tarball, unpack and then run setup.py

$ python setup.py install

Usage - with class methods

>>> from pypvwatts import PVWatts
>>> PVWatts.api_key = 'myapikeyHLM6x2In2KmX4fxsTRRBT2r9KfDagJjU'
>>> result = PVWatts.request(system_size=4, dataset='tmy2', derate=0.77, lat=40, lon=-105)
>>> result.ac_annual
7607.97607421875    

Usage - with instance methods

>>> from pypvwatts import PVWatts
>>> p = PVWatts(api_key='myapikeyHLM6x2In2KmX4fxsTRRBT2r9KfDagJjU')
>>> result = p.request(system_size=4, dataset='tmy2', derate=0.77, lat=40, lon=-105)
>>> result.ac_annual
7607.97607421875    

Request parameters and responses

All request parameters correspond to NREL PVWatts API parameters.

This library provides shortcuts for all response output fields, all can be accessed as a result property.

Please refer to NREL PVWatts documentation for further details.

http://developer.nrel.gov/docs/solar/pvwatts-v4/

Raw data

Raw result data can be queried using the result.raw attribute.

>>> from pypvwatts import PVWatts
>>> result = PVWatts.request(system_size=4, dataset='tmy2', derate=0.77, lat=40, lon=-105)
>>> result.raw
{u'errors': [u'You have exceeded your rate limit. Try again later or contact us at http://developer.nrel.gov/contact for assistance']}

Errors

All API errors are reported via JSON response, using the errors attribute.

>>> from pypvwatts import PVWatts
>>> result = PVWatts.request(system_size=4, dataset='tmy2', derate=0.77, lat=40, lon=-105)
>>> result.errors
[u'You have exceeded your rate limit. Try again later or contact us at http://developer.nrel.gov/contact for assistance']

All parameters feeded to make the request are validated, all validations follow the restrictions documented in NREL v4 API docs at http://developer.nrel.gov/docs/solar/pvwatts-v4/. All validation errors will be raised with pypvwatts.pvwattserror.PVWattsValidationError exception.

pypvwatts does not try to hide the fact is a thin wrapper around requests library so all other service errors such as connectivity or timeouts are raised as requests library exceptions http://docs.python-requests.org/en/latest/user/quickstart/#errors-and-exceptions.

Tests

Simple tests are provided in test.py. Run them with:

$ python -m unittest pypvwatts.test

Changelog

1.1.0 - Minor import fix and README update

1.0.0 - First release

Author: Miguel Paolino mpaolino@gmail.com for renooble.com