Solar Forecast Dashboard is a WordPress plugin that helps you track and display daily solar forecast data from the Solcast API.
Whether you’re managing a home solar setup, teaching students about renewable energy, or running a small community project, this plugin makes it easy to understand when and how much solar energy to expect — in plain numbers and easy-to-read charts.
It automatically fetches a 24-hour forecast once a day, stores it in your database, and provides you with several shortcodes to display it on your site.
You can also send yourself (or a team) a daily email report and compare data over time to spot trends. Privacy-conscious? Good — this plugin respects user consent and doesn’t collect any personal data.
Here are a few examples of how this plugin can be used in the real world:
- ⚡️ Farmers in rural Pakistan using solar panels to power tube wells, irrigation motors, and cutting machines — checking next-day output to plan work hours.
- 🏠 Off-grid homes in mountainous regions where the national grid doesn’t reach, using forecast data to manage daily electricity use smartly.
- 🌧️ Monsoon season prep for solar users in India, Bangladesh, or Sri Lanka — monitoring cloudy days to conserve battery storage or schedule backup generator use.
- 🏫 Schools or NGOs running community learning centers on solar power, using the reports to teach energy literacy and monitor system health.
- 💻 Bloggers, educators, and site owners looking to share open solar data with visitors in a clean, accessible way.
I built this tool because most solar dashboards are either too complicated or locked behind proprietary apps. My goal is to give WordPress users a simple, open-source way to bring solar data to their websites without any bloat.
📖 Documentation
This section covers everything you need to know to set up and use the Solar Forecast Dashboard plugin.
📌 Available Shortcodes
You can display solar data on public-facing pages using these shortcodes:
| Shortcode | Description |
|---|---|
[sfd_forecast_tomorrow] | Shows tomorrow’s expected solar forecast in kWh. |
[sfd_today_generation] | Displays today’s total estimated solar energy generation. |
[sfd_month_summary] | Shows month-to-date solar generation totals. |
[sfd_generation_year] | Displays year-to-date generation and trees saved equivalent. |
[sfd_public_reports] | Shows a public report table without revealing sensitive data. |
[sfd_monthly_impact] | Displays month-to-date environmental impact and trees saved. |
[sfd_yearly_impact] | Displays year-to-date environmental impact and trees saved. |
📬 Email Troubleshooting
If daily forecast emails aren’t arriving, install the WP Mail SMTP plugin to improve your site’s email delivery. It works great alongside this plugin and ensures messages don’t end up in spam or get silently dropped.
🔐 Solcast API Setup (Free)
Solar data comes directly from the Solcast API. You’ll need a free Solcast account and a rooftop site configured. Here’s how to set it up:
- Go to https://solcast.com and create a free account
- After logging in, create a “Rooftop Site” to get your Site ID and API key
- Paste those credentials into the plugin settings page in your WordPress dashboard
The free tier includes enough API requests for small solar installations, home projects, and educational use.
💾 Data Storage & Manual Cleanup
The plugin stores each day’s forecast in a custom database table named wp_sfd_reports. This allows you to view, chart, and compare past forecasts easily.
If you need to delete a report manually, go to Solar Forecast → Reports in the WordPress admin and click “Delete” next to the entry you want to remove.
⚠️ Deleted reports are permanently removed and cannot be recovered.
🛡️ Privacy & GDPR Compliance
This plugin does not collect or transmit any personal user data. All forecast data is pulled from Solcast based on your own API credentials and stored locally on your server.
💬 Feedback & Questions
Have suggestions, questions, or run into a bug? Feel free to drop me a message.