API directory · Google Maps Platform
Solar API: building-level solar potential for energy platforms
The Solar API gives your product access to building-level solar potential data for hundreds of millions of buildings: rooftop dimensions, panel layout recommendations, irradiance and insolation values and a cost-savings calculator. For solar energy platforms and EPC contractors in India, it replaces manual site surveys with an API call. Standard endpoints are GA. Lepton integrates it as part of GMP delivery.
Get a demo →What the API does
Building-level solar potential from rooftop dimensions to cost savings
The Solar API has two endpoint categories. Building Insights returns solar potential data for a specific building: location and dimensions, rooftop surface area, optimal panel layout and count, annual energy output estimate and a cost-savings calculator for both US and non-US markets. Data Layers returns raw solar information for an area as raster GeoTIFF tiles, including monthly irradiance flux, annual insolation and horizon angles, which can be rendered on a map or fed into a modeling pipeline.
Data covers hundreds of millions of buildings. Standard endpoints are GA. The expanded coverage endpoints are Experimental (per Google's current product documentation).
Use cases
Where the Solar API powers India energy products
- 01
Solar sales · Instant rooftop feasibility for customer acquisition
Solar EPC companies and rooftop installers use Building Insights to generate an instant solar potential estimate from a customer address at the top of the sales funnel, replacing a manual site survey with an API call and shortening the qualification cycle.
- 02
Fintech · Solar loan and financing pre-qualification
Green lending and NBFC products use the cost-savings calculator output to model payback period and financing size against a rooftop, enabling instant solar loan pre-qualification tied to the actual building rather than an industry average.
- 03
Energy · Portfolio-level rooftop solar assessment
Utilities, aggregators and commercial real estate owners use Data Layers to run a bulk rooftop assessment across a large portfolio of properties, identifying high-yield sites for solar investment without site-by-site surveys.
- 04
Govtech · Municipal and state solar planning
Local bodies and state energy departments use area-level Data Layers to model aggregate solar potential across a ward or district, supporting PM Surya Ghar and rooftop solar policy targets.
Where Lepton comes in
API selection, GCP setup and integration into your energy product
The Solar API is one of the Environment family APIs in Google Maps Platform, alongside Air Quality, Pollen and Weather. Most energy platform use cases need the Solar API combined with map visualization on the Maps JavaScript API. We pick the right combination and deliver the integration.
Building Insights and Data Layers wired into your product
We integrate the Solar API endpoints into your platform: Building Insights for per-address assessment, Data Layers for area-level analysis, and the map rendering layer to visualize irradiance output for sales or planning tools.
GCP project setup and API enablement
Service accounts, API key configuration, billing setup and the GCP project plumbing so the Solar API is callable, quota-managed and integrated with your existing GCP infrastructure.
Solar API combined with Maps JavaScript for visualization
Most Solar API use cases need irradiance data rendered on a map. We wire the Data Layers output to a Maps JavaScript API surface, so rooftop solar potential is visible and interactive in your product.
Request query parameters
GET https://solar.googleapis.com/v1/buildingInsights:findClosest
?location.latitude=18.52043
&location.longitude=73.85674
&requiredQuality=HIGH
X-Goog-Api-Key: <your key>Response application/json
{
"name": "buildings/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
"center": { "latitude": 18.520408, "longitude": 73.856692 },
"imageryDate": { "year": 2024, "month": 3, "day": 18 },
"imageryQuality": "HIGH",
"postalCode": "411001",
"administrativeArea": "Maharashtra",
"regionCode": "IN",
"solarPotential": {
"maxArrayPanelsCount": 96,
"maxArrayAreaMeters2": 188.5,
"maxSunshineHoursPerYear": 1842.5,
"carbonOffsetFactorKgPerMwh": 708.3,
"panelCapacityWatts": 400,
"panelHeightMeters": 1.879,
"panelWidthMeters": 1.045,
"panelLifetimeYears": 20,
"wholeRoofStats": {
"areaMeters2": 246.8,
"groundAreaMeters2": 240.2
},
"roofSegmentStats": [
{ "pitchDegrees": 14.2, "azimuthDegrees": 178.6,
"planeHeightAtCenterMeters": 11.4,
"stats": { "areaMeters2": 121.3, "groundAreaMeters2": 117.6 } },
{ "pitchDegrees": 13.9, "azimuthDegrees": 358.4,
"planeHeightAtCenterMeters": 11.4,
"stats": { "areaMeters2": 96.5, "groundAreaMeters2": 93.7 } },
{ "pitchDegrees": 2.1, "azimuthDegrees": 88.0,
"planeHeightAtCenterMeters": 9.8,
"stats": { "areaMeters2": 29.0, "groundAreaMeters2": 28.9 } }
],
"solarPanelConfigs": [
{
"panelsCount": 96,
"yearlyEnergyDcKwh": 51284.6,
"roofSegmentSummaries": [
{ "segmentIndex": 0, "panelsCount": 58, "yearlyEnergyDcKwh": 31742.1,
"pitchDegrees": 14.2, "azimuthDegrees": 178.6 },
{ "segmentIndex": 1, "panelsCount": 32, "yearlyEnergyDcKwh": 16210.9,
"pitchDegrees": 13.9, "azimuthDegrees": 358.4 },
{ "segmentIndex": 2, "panelsCount": 6, "yearlyEnergyDcKwh": 3331.6,
"pitchDegrees": 2.1, "azimuthDegrees": 88.0 }
]
}
]
}
}Tell us the solar platform use case. We will design the integration.
Bring the energy or EPC product problem. We map it to the Solar API endpoints and walk through the integration architecture.
Get a demo →