Build a grid load monitor

This recipe builds an electricity grid monitor on /api/v2/energy/grid: hourly US operating data from the EIA-930 Hourly Electric Grid Monitor, EU bidding-zone load and generation from the ENTSO-E Transparency Platform, and US utility tariff schedules from the NREL / OpenEI Utility Rate Database (URDB) for the cost side. Along the way it shows how to line demand up against generation and interchange so the balance actually closes.

What you build

A poller that reads load for one US region and one EU bidding zone, checks demand against generation plus imports for the same hour, breaks generation down by fuel, and attaches local tariff context. Each poll is one request against your daily quota; pass the key in the x-api-key header on every call (Authentication).

1. Read the latest US-wide demand

One region namespace covers US balancing authorities (EIA codes such as US48, PJM, CISO), GB, DK1/DK2, six ENTSO-E zones (DE_LU, FR, NL, ES, IT_NORD, PL) and AU NEM regions. Start with the US lower-48 total:

Response (truncated):

{
  "data": {
    "region": "US48", "region_name": "United States Lower 48",
    "metric": "demand", "unit": "megawatthours", "count": 3,
    "series": [
      {"period": "2026-07-19T08", "value": 485080.0},
      {"period": "2026-07-19T07", "value": 492434.0}
    ]
  },
  "meta": {"endpoint": "/api/v2/energy/grid", "data_time": "2026-07-19T08:00:00Z", "source": "eia"}
}

Series are newest first; hourly periods are UTC hour labels (frequency=local_hourly switches US regions to local time). Around 485 GWh was consumed in the latest reported hour.

2. Pin a window and read net generation

Metrics publish at different lags: at probe time demand reached 2026-07-19T08 while net generation stopped at 2026-07-18T03. To compare like with like, pin start and end instead of taking the head of each series:

Response (truncated):

{
  "data": {
    "metric": "net_generation", "unit": "megawatthours", "count": 2,
    "series": [
      {"period": "2026-07-18T03", "value": 625870.0}
    ]
  }
}

Your monitor should treat the older of the two latest periods as the newest comparable hour. Replace the dates shown with the window you are checking.

3. Close the balance with interchange

Demand a region serves is generation plus net imports. total_interchange is the net flow out of the region, so negative values mean it imported power:

Response (truncated):

{
  "data": {"metric": "total_interchange", "unit": "megawatthours",
           "series": [{"period": "2026-07-18T03", "value": -16034.0}]}
}

Pinning metric=demand to the same hour returns 632258. Supply was 625870 generated plus 16034 imported, about 641.9 GWh against 632.3 GWh of demand; the roughly 1.5 percent residual is normal for preliminary EIA-930 submissions, so alert on trend, not on exact closure.

4. Switch to an EU bidding zone

The same endpoint serves ENTSO-E zones at their published native resolution. Germany-Luxembourg reports load in 15-minute intervals:

Response (truncated):

{
  "data": {
    "region": "DE_LU", "region_name": "Germany-Luxembourg",
    "metric": "demand", "unit": "MW", "resolution": "PT15M", "count": 3,
    "series": [
      {"period": "2026-07-19T07:15:00Z", "value": 44447.433629},
      {"period": "2026-07-19T07:00:00Z", "value": 44007.59132}
    ]
  },
  "meta": {"source": "entsoe"}
}

Watch the units: EU zones report average MW per interval, US regions hourly MWh, so normalize before charting both. ENTSO-E zones serve demand and day-ahead price here; generation lives on /grid/fuel-mix.

5. Break EU generation down by fuel

Response (truncated):

{
  "data": {
    "region": "DE_LU", "unit": "MW", "resolution": "PT15M",
    "latest_period": "2026-07-19T07:45:00Z",
    "rows": [
      {"period": "2026-07-19T07:30:00Z", "fuel_type": "B16", "fuel_type_name": "Solar",
       "direction": "production", "value": 19960.104}
    ]
  }
}

Rows are one fuel per interval; the newest slice can be partially published (at probe time latest_period carried a single fuel while the 07:30 slice was complete), so aggregate on the last complete interval. Here solar alone supplied about 20 GW of the roughly 44 GW load from step 4. Values preserve source direction: production positive, consumption (for example pumped storage) negative.

6. Add the cost angle with utility tariffs

/api/v2/energy/tariffs returns URDB rate schedules. Select a utility by eiaid or name substring, or look up by coordinate:

Response (truncated):

{
  "data": {
    "mode": "geo", "count": 2, "tariffs": [
      {"name": "E-1 - Baseline Region Q", "utility": "Pacific Gas & Electric Co", "eiaid": 14328,
       "sector": "Residential", "start_date": "2014-01-01", "end_date": "2014-07-31",
       "energy": {"tiers_by_period": [[{"rate": 0.1323, "effective_rate": 0.1323, "max": 7.5, "unit": "kWh"}]]}}
    ]
  }
}

Each tariff carries fixed and minimum charges plus tiered energy rates by time-of-use period. URDB schedules are community- and utility-submitted: check start_date / end_date for vintage and verify against the utility's published tariff sheet before any billing use.

Going further

Sugra Earth direction - the full Energy category: retail prices, solar radiation, wind and PV potential, power infrastructure.

Rate limits and errors - budget your polling interval against the daily quota.

Quickstart - the response envelope, meta.source and rate-limit headers used throughout this recipe.

Build a grid load monitor

What you build#

1. Read the latest US-wide demand#

2. Pin a window and read net generation#

3. Close the balance with interchange#

4. Switch to an EU bidding zone#

5. Break EU generation down by fuel#

6. Add the cost angle with utility tariffs#

Going further#

What you build

1. Read the latest US-wide demand

2. Pin a window and read net generation

3. Close the balance with interchange

4. Switch to an EU bidding zone

5. Break EU generation down by fuel

6. Add the cost angle with utility tariffs

Going further