Add Forecast Datasets from Open-Meteo and DWD to Atlite

[TimFuermann]

Integration of Weather Forecast Datasets into atlite

This pull request extends atlite to support the creation of nowcast and forecast renewable generation time series based on open weather prediction datasets. The feature is developed in the context of the publication “Enhancing Energy System Modeling with Global Weather Forecast Integration: A German Case Study with European Outlook”, which will appear in the EEM 2025 Conference Proceedings.

With these changes, atlite can now process both global and regional weather forecasts from multiple sources, making it suitable for real-time and operational energy system modeling.

Key Changes:

• New dataset integrations:

  • Open-Meteo API: Includes support for historic, historic-forecast, and forecast datasets.
  • DWD ICON family: Adds support for ICON, ICON-EU, and ICON-D2 forecast datasets via the DWD Open Data portal.

• Cutout base class refactor:

  • Support for future timestamps in cutouts.
  • Requirements checks for weather variable availability.
  • Optional parallel processing support.
  • Improved default chunking and data handling.

These additions make atlite compatible with high-resolution, short-term forecasting needs and allow seamless integration into workflows like PyPSA-Eur.

Closes # (if applicable).

Changes proposed in this Pull Request

Checklist

• Code changes are sufficiently documented; i.e. new functions contain docstrings and further explanations may be given in doc.
• Unit tests for new features were added (if applicable).
• Newly introduced dependencies are added to environment.yaml, environment_docs.yaml and setup.py (if applicable).
• A note for the release notes doc/release_notes.rst of the upcoming release is included.
• I consent to the release of this PR's code under the MIT license.

[lkstrp]

That sounds fabulous! Thanks for the massive contribution @TimFuermann! Will review soon!