Pilot opportunity: solar forecasting for Irish community energy projects.

Surpl is looking for a small number of Irish community solar farms and small solar operators to pilot SolarCast, our satellite-based solar forecasting tool.

SolarCast predicts near-term changes in solar output by tracking cloud movement and combining that signal with local generation data. The goal is simple: help operators see when output is likely to rise or fall, so they can plan more confidently and understand how Irish weather affects real solar generation.

Why this matters

Irish solar is growing quickly, and community-owned and small-scale projects are becoming an increasingly important part of that story. But Irish solar also has to deal with fast-moving Atlantic fronts, highly variable cloud cover, and big seasonal shifts in daylight, which makes short-term forecasting especially valuable.

That’s where SolarCast comes in. We are building a tool that can provide:

• short-term output forecasts.

• cloud approach alerts.

• a weekly accuracy report.

• a clearer view of how weather is likely to affect generation over the next few minutes to hours.

Who we’re looking for

We’d love to hear from:

• community solar farms.

• community energy projects.

• small commercial solar operators.

• farms or local sites with inverter data available.

You don’t need to be a large operator. In fact, small and community-led sites are especially valuable because they help us make the model work better for real Irish conditions.

What the pilot includes

The pilot is free and designed to be low-lift. We’ll work with you to connect SolarCast to your generation data, then provide forecasts and feedback reports that show how the model is performing over time.

We’re especially interested in sites where we can test:

• whether cloud movement predicts output changes well.

• how much value short-term alerts provide.

• whether the forecasts help with planning or operational decisions.

What we’d ask in return

In return, we’d ask for:

• anonymised generation data.

• a short conversation every few weeks.

• feedback on whether the forecasts are actually useful.

We’re not looking for perfect data on day one. We’re looking for the right partners to help us build something genuinely useful for Irish solar.

Interested?

If you run a community solar project or a small solar site and think SolarCast could help, we’d love to hear from you.

You can reach out directly at partners@surpl.ie , or send a short note through our website.