Bring Solar Irradiance
to Claude Desktop
Learn how to connect NREL Solar Resource to Claude Desktop and start using 2 AI agent tools in minutes. Fully managed, enterprise secure, and ready to use without writing a single line of code.
GDPR Free for SubscribersCompatible with every major AI agent and IDE
Gemini
What is the NREL Solar Resource MCP Server?
Connect your AI agent to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Solar Resource API to analyze solar potential and access historical radiation data through natural conversation.
What you can do
- Solar Irradiance — Retrieve average solar irradiance data including Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI), Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI), and Tilt at Latitude for specific coordinates.
- NSRDB Queries — Search the National Solar Radiation Database for the nearest datasets based on latitude/longitude, address, or Well-Known Text (WKT) geometry.
- Data Sourcing — Identify specific satellite or station-based datasets for renewable energy research and site assessment.
How it works
- Subscribe to this server
- Enter your NREL API Key
- Start querying solar data from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client
Who is this for?
- Energy Analysts — quickly assess the solar potential of specific geographic locations for project feasibility.
- Researchers — locate relevant NSRDB datasets for climate and energy studies without manual API calls.
- Engineers — retrieve precise irradiance metrics for solar installation planning directly in your workflow.
Built-in capabilities (2)
Get average solar irradiance data for a location
Query nearest NSRDB datasets for a location
Why Claude Desktop?
Claude Desktop is the definitive way to connect NREL Solar Resource to your AI workflow. Add Vinkius Edge URL to your config, restart the app, and Claude immediately exposes all 2 tools in the chat interface. ask a question, Claude calls the right tool, and you see the answer. Zero code, zero context switching.
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Claude Desktop is the reference MCP client. it was designed alongside the protocol itself, ensuring the most complete and stable MCP implementation available
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Zero-code configuration: add a server URL to a JSON file and Claude instantly discovers and exposes all available tools in the chat interface
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Claude's extended thinking capability lets it reason through multi-step tool usage, chaining multiple API calls to answer complex questions
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Enterprise-grade security with local config storage. your tokens never leave your machine, and connections go directly to Vinkius Edge network
NREL Solar Resource in Claude Desktop
NREL Solar Resource and 4,000+ other MCP servers. One platform. One governance layer.
Teams that connect NREL Solar Resource to Claude Desktop through Vinkius don't need to source, host, or maintain individual MCP servers. Every tool call runs inside a hardened runtime with credential isolation, DLP, and a signed audit chain.
Raw MCP | Vinkius | |
|---|---|---|
| Server catalog | Find and host yourself | 4,000+ managed |
| Infrastructure | Self-hosted | Sandboxed V8 isolates |
| Credential handling | Plaintext in config | Vault + runtime injection |
| Data loss prevention | None | Configurable DLP policies |
| Kill switch | None | Global instant shutdown |
| Financial circuit breakers | None | Per-server limits + alerts |
| Audit trail | None | Ed25519 signed logs |
| SIEM log streaming | None | Splunk, Datadog, Webhook |
| Honeytokens | None | Canary alerts on leak |
| Custom domains | Not applicable | DNS challenge verified |
| GDPR compliance | Manual effort | Automated purge + export |
Why teams choose Vinkius for NREL Solar Resource in Claude Desktop
The NREL Solar Resource MCP Server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS — a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts. All 2 tools execute in hardened sandboxes optimized for native MCP execution.
Your AI agents in Claude Desktop only access the data you authorize, with DLP that blocks sensitive information from ever reaching the model, kill switch for instant shutdown, and up to 60% token savings. Enterprise-grade infrastructure, zero maintenance.
* Every MCP server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS - a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts optimized for native MCP execution. See our infrastructure
How Vinkius secures
NREL Solar Resource for Claude Desktop
Every tool call from Claude Desktop to the NREL Solar Resource MCP Server is protected by DLP redaction, cryptographic audit chains, V8 sandbox isolation, kill switch, and financial circuit breakers.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get solar irradiance for a specific coordinate?
Use the get_solar_resource tool by providing the latitude and longitude. The agent will return average DNI, GHI, and Tilt at Latitude data for that location.
Can I search for solar data using a physical address instead of coordinates?
Yes! The query_nsrdb_data tool allows you to provide an address string. The system will locate the nearest NSRDB datasets associated with that address.
What types of data sources can I filter by in the NSRDB?
When using query_nsrdb_data, you can use the type parameter to filter results by 'satellite' or 'station' data sources.
How does Claude Desktop discover MCP tools?
When Claude Desktop starts, it reads the claude_desktop_config.json file and connects to each configured MCP server. It calls the tools/list endpoint to fetch the schema for every available tool, then surfaces them as clickable options in the chat interface via the 🔌 icon.
What happens if the MCP server is temporarily unavailable?
Claude Desktop handles disconnections gracefully. if the server is unreachable at startup, the tools simply won't appear. Once the server becomes available again, restarting Claude Desktop will re-establish the connection. There is no timeout penalty or error loop.
Can I connect multiple MCP servers simultaneously?
Yes. You can add as many servers as you need in the mcpServers section of the config file. Each server appears as a separate tool provider, and Claude can use tools from multiple servers in a single conversation turn.
Is there a limit on the number of tools per server?
Claude Desktop can handle hundreds of tools per server. However, for optimal LLM performance, Vinkius servers are designed to expose focused, well-documented tool sets rather than overwhelming the model with too many options.
Does Claude Desktop support Streamable HTTP transport?
Yes. Claude Desktop supports both SSE (Server-Sent Events) and the newer Streamable HTTP transport that Vinkius uses. Simply provide the server URL. Claude auto-negotiates the transport protocol.
Server not appearing after restart
Ensure the JSON is valid (no trailing commas). Check the file path: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\\Claude\\ (Windows).
Authentication error
Verify your Vinkius token is correct. Go to cloud.vinkius.com to regenerate it if needed.
Tools not showing in chat
Click the 🔌 icon at the bottom of the chat input. If it shows 0 tools, the server may still be connecting. wait a few seconds.
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