Get forecast

Use this action to get the full solar production forecast from Forecast.Solar, for example to plan when to run your dishwasher or charge your car on sunshine. Where the forecast sensors give you a few key numbers, this action gives you the whole forecast, period by period.

This action returns its result in a response variable, which you can use in later steps of the same automation or script.

Using this action from the user interface

If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To get the forecast from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger. They run when something else calls them.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. From the search box, search for and select Forecast.Solar: Get forecast.
6. In Forecast.Solar entry, select your Forecast.Solar setup.
7. Optional: Set a Start and End to limit the forecast to a period, and choose a Resolution.
8. In the Response variable field, enter a name to store the forecast in, such as solar_forecast. You’ll use this name to read the forecast in later steps.
9. Select Save.

This action does not support targets. In the UI, you are not prompted to choose an area, device, entity, or label.

Options in the UI

Using this action in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.

In YAML, refer to this action as forecast_solar.get_forecast. Because this action returns a response, use response_variable to capture the result. A basic example looks like this:

action: forecast_solar.get_forecast
data:
  config_entry: YOUR_CONFIG_ENTRY_ID
  start: "2026-09-30 06:00:00"
  end: "2026-09-30 20:00:00"
  resolution: hourly
response_variable: solar_forecast

This returns the hourly forecast for September 30, between 6:00 and 20:00.

Options in YAML

Response data

The response contains two mappings, each keyed by the start time of a period:

• watts: The estimated power at that time, in watts. With hourly, this is the average for the hour.
• wh_period: The estimated energy produced during the period that starts at that time, in watt-hours. With hourly, this is the total for the hour.

The times include the time zone of your Forecast.Solar location. A shortened example of the response looks like this:

watts:
  "2026-09-30T08:00:00+02:00": 412
  "2026-09-30T09:00:00+02:00": 1350
  "2026-09-30T10:00:00+02:00": 2280
wh_period:
  "2026-09-30T08:00:00+02:00": 395
  "2026-09-30T09:00:00+02:00": 1312
  "2026-09-30T10:00:00+02:00": 2241

Good to know

• The action returns the forecast Home Assistant already has. It doesn’t ask Forecast.Solar for a new one. How often the forecast updates depends on your account, see Data updates.
• If you set an End that is before the Start, the action fails with an error.
• If you added more than one plane, the forecast combines all of them, just like the forecast sensors do.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Settings > Tools > Actions, search for this action, fill in the fields, and select Perform action. You see what happens on your actual entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] without writing a line of YAML.

More examples

Real scenarios where this action shows up in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Automation: tell me the sunniest hour of tomorrow

Every evening, get tomorrow’s forecast and send the hour with the most expected solar power to your phone. Use it to plan when to run the washing machine or charge your car.

• Trigger: Time
  • At time: 20:00
• Action: Forecast.Solar: Get forecast
  • Forecast.Solar entry: Your Forecast.Solar setup
  • Start: Tomorrow at 00:00
  • End: The day after tomorrow at 00:00
  • Resolution: Aggregated to whole hours
  • Response variable: solar_forecast
• Action: Send a notification message
  • Target: My Device (notify.my_device)

alias: "Send the sunniest hour of tomorrow"
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "20:00:00"
actions:
  - action: forecast_solar.get_forecast
    data:
      config_entry: YOUR_CONFIG_ENTRY_ID
      start: "{{ today_at() + timedelta(days=1) }}"
      end: "{{ today_at() + timedelta(days=2) }}"
      resolution: hourly
    response_variable: solar_forecast
  - action: notify.send_message
    target:
      entity_id: notify.my_device
    data:
      message: >
        {% set best = solar_forecast.watts
          | dictsort(false, 'value') | last %}
        Tomorrow's sunniest hour starts at
        {{ as_datetime(best[0]).strftime('%H:%M') }}.

Automation: start the dishwasher when enough sun is coming

At noon, check how much solar energy is expected in the next three hours. If it’s at least 2 kWh, turn on the dishwasher, which is plugged into a smart plug.

• Trigger: Time
  • At time: 12:00
• Action: Forecast.Solar: Get forecast
  • Forecast.Solar entry: Your Forecast.Solar setup
  • Start: Now
  • End: Three hours from now
  • Response variable: solar_forecast
• Condition: Template
  • The total of wh_period is 2000 Wh or more
• Action: Turn on switch
  • Target: Dishwasher plug (switch.dishwasher_plug)

alias: "Start the dishwasher when enough sun is coming"
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "12:00:00"
actions:
  - action: forecast_solar.get_forecast
    data:
      config_entry: YOUR_CONFIG_ENTRY_ID
      start: "{{ now() }}"
      end: "{{ now() + timedelta(hours=3) }}"
    response_variable: solar_forecast
  - condition: template
    value_template: >
      {{ solar_forecast.wh_period.values() | sum >= 2000 }}
  - action: switch.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: switch.dishwasher_plug

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.