Commercial solar in Cyprus: specify an API history export

Specify the history you want before commissioning an API export

An offer to connect a commercial solar installation to an API does not identify the history the buyer will receive. Daily energy totals, a production-meter series and a different device-derived series can have different purposes and available periods. Ask the integration provider to name its source, resolution and coverage before accepting a proposal described simply as "all historical data".

The Enphase v4 API FAQ distinguishes production-meter energy at fifteen-minute intervals from a microinverter-based production series at five-minute intervals. For those documented series it states a seven-day maximum request range and a start date within two years of the current time. It separately describes daily lifetime energy. These distinctions concern that API's documented data sources, not a promise that every system, plan or account supplies them.

For a Cyprus commercial project, commission the authorised integration provider to check the actual installation, access and service terms. This guide helps define an export deliverable. It is not an API implementation, a measurement certification or permission to retrieve information from an account the buyer does not control.

Make the requested output unambiguous

Give the provider a written output specification. Name the site, the desired period, the energy quantity and the interval resolution. Ask which source it proposes to use and how it will identify that source in the delivered files. The provider should explain what it can supply before it quotes a complete archive.

Write the purpose beside the specification. A buyer checking a monthly summary may need a different deliverable from an analyst examining within-day patterns. The provider can advise on the offered data without silently substituting daily totals for interval records. The analyst should confirm whether the proposed output serves its actual task.

Keep measurement sources explicit. A matching column name does not establish that two series were measured in the same way. If a provider proposes to combine sources, ask it to explain and label the change. The buyer should be able to see where one basis ends and another begins.

Use a fictional thirty-day acceptance case

Consider a procurement brief for thirty specified consecutive days of production-meter history. This fictional brief asks the provider to supply the documented fifteen-minute series where available, identify gaps and explain its coverage checks. It does not assume every interval exists.

The worksheet accounts for thirty requested days as seven plus seven plus seven plus seven plus two. It is a procurement partition, not a set of API requests or a statement about inclusive endpoint semantics. The developer must handle actual timestamps and boundaries correctly under the current documentation.

If the proposal promises a single request covering the whole thirty-day interval series, ask the provider to reconcile that wording with the documented range limit. Perhaps it means one customer order that the integration fulfils through multiple supported operations. The revised description should explain the deliverable rather than rely on the ambiguous word "request".

Ask how boundary and duplicate checks will be evidenced

The provider should describe how it checks the start and end of each delivered period. Ask it to identify overlaps, gaps and repeated records through its normal quality process. The buyer does not need to prescribe code, but should require a readable result and an explanation of known limitations.

For the fictional case, B2 might repeat one timestamp already supplied in B1. Ask the provider to explain whether that record is a duplicate, a correction or a different source. Do not sum both automatically. Conversely, a missing timestamp should not be replaced with an invented measurement to make the row count look tidy.

Require a consistent timestamp description and unit definition in the handover. Ask which time basis the provider uses and how it represents the selected site's reporting period. A file that opens successfully can still be unsuitable for comparison if its time basis remains unexplained.

Check the age of the requested information

If the brief asks for an interval series beginning more than two years ago, the provider should address the documented start-date limit before promising delivery through that named route. Ask whether another legitimate source exists and what granularity it offers. Leave unavailable information identified as unavailable.

A daily lifetime total is a different output from a fifteen-minute series. It may serve another analysis, but substituting it changes the brief. Obtain the analyst's response and the buyer's acceptance of the revised deliverable. Do not expand a daily total into fictional intervals and label them measured data.

The source limit also makes the enquiry date relevant. Record when the provider checked availability and which requested period it assessed. A preliminary answer should not become an indefinite promise about future access or historical retention.

Separate software delivery from plant maintenance

Ask the integration provider to state its access authorisation, output files, checks, support and exclusions. Request the fee basis, any applicable platform charges and VAT treatment. A data-export commission should not imply that the provider has assessed electrical performance or undertaken maintenance.

Solarpanels is a starting point for a commercial-solar enquiry with the data specification and site references. If the business needs a separate accounting use of the resulting records, Accountly provides a relevant route for that professional scope. Confirm each provider's accepted role. Neither link grants API access or certifies the measurements.

Keep credentials and tokens out of the procurement attachments. The authorised developer should use the platform's supported access process and explain the permissions needed. A buyer can review the proposed output without circulating secrets to every person comparing quotations.

Accept the deliverable against the specification

For the fictional thirty-day brief, the final package should identify B1 through B5, its actual coverage and any unresolved gaps. The provider's checks should distinguish repeated records from intended corrections and identify the source used. The buyer can then ask its analyst whether the result meets the stated purpose.

Preserve the accepted specification and the delivery record together. If the provider supplied daily totals instead of the requested interval series, record that as a changed deliverable, with the buyer's decision. A useful API project ends with information whose source and limits the business understands, rather than a connection badge that conceals what was actually delivered.