Import data: Supported file formats

EKO Q offers flexible capabilities for data file import:

Standard CSV (text) files with column separation.
Automated CSV formatting detection.
Customisable CSV formatting via Interactive Data Import Assistant (available for users of Advanced plan).

Industry-standard CSV file format with the following requirements ensures the smoothest data import. Use the example files as reference:

1. Irradiance data for single sensor. Timestamp in UTC. GHI, UTC time.csv

timestamp_UTC;GHI
2025-05-24 00:00:00;-0.4
2025-05-24 00:01:00;-0.3
2025-05-24 00:02:00;-0.3
...

2. Irradiance data for single sensor. Timestamps following ISO 8601. GHI, tz-aware.csv

timestamp_local;GHI
2025-05-23T15:25:00+0200;534.817
2025-05-23T15:30:00+0200;454.172
2025-05-23T15:35:00+0200;387.389
...

3. File with irradiance data for multiple sensors, with column names matching sensor names in EKO Q. Timestamp in UTC. Multiple columns, UTC.csv

timestamp_UTC;GHI;McClear_GHI;CAMS_GHI
2025-05-24 00:00:00;-0.4;0.0;0.0
2025-05-24 00:01:00;-0.3;0.0;0.0
2025-05-24 00:02:00;-0.3;0.0;0.0
...

Note: Data formatting is expected the same for the entire data file.

Parameter	Recommended format	Options
General file structure
File extension	.csv	.csv .txt .dat
File size	< 10 MB	Maximumm 50 MB
Time period length	21 days minimum, 3 years maximum (see knowledge base)
Column delimiter	Semicolon (";")	Semicolon (;) Comma (,)
Column names location	In the first row
Column order	Timestamp column, followed by one column with numeric values	Timestamp column, followed by one or multiple columns with numeric values. Target column name matches the sensor name
Timestamp formatting
Timestamp column	The first column contains date and time for each row
Timestamp format	"YYYY-mm-ddTHH:MM:SS±zzzz" Example: "2025-12-31T13:15:00+0100"	- Date and time separated by by "T" or by space ( ) - Time with or without seconds (HH:MM:SS or HH:MM) Time zone-aware or naïve
Time zone of timestamps	Explicitly specified as ±hhmm at each timestamp	- Explicitly specified as ±hhmm at each timestamp - Implicit, specified at data import as UTC or local time inferred based site location
Interval sampling convention	Left (start of the interval)
Measurements values
Columns	Single column with irradiance values	Multiple columns, with names matching the sensor names configured in EKO Q
Decimal point	Dot (.)	- Dot (.) - Comma (,)
Thousand separators	None
Units of measure for irradiance	W/m2

If the data does not match standard formatting, EKO Q offers automated format detection using commonly used options of CSV file formatting.

The interactive assistant allows you to describe the custom formats used in your data file. It supports the following customisation.

The interactive assistant is only available to users of Advanced plan.

Key settings for smooth importing CSV data files