To a federal statistical agency like the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), there’s nothing more satisfying than providing needed information that can facilitate more informed analysis and policy decisions on a national and regional level. EIA recently launched its new Hourly Electric Grid Monitor, a redesigned and enhanced version of EIA’s existing U.S. Electric System Operating Data website.  The data for the Hourly Electric Grid Monitor come from the Form EIA-930, Hourly and Daily Balancing Authority Operations Report, which collects hourly electricity demand, forecast demand, net generation, and interchange data from the 65 electricity balancing authorities that operate the electric grid in the Lower 48 states.  The Hourly Electric Grid Monitor incorporates two new data elements: hourly electricity generation by energy source and hourly subregional demand. The new website also provides new and more flexible options for visualizing the data and allows users to create custom dashboards that can be saved and shared.

Although electric system balancing authorities covering most of the United States have released real-time information on grid operations since the late 1990s, EIA’s Hourly Electric Grid Monitor expands the availability of data to the entire contiguous 48 states, and makes it available in a consistent format from a single source.

Among other applications, the data can be used to provide timely information on electric system recovery after power interruptions and to help evaluate the effects of renewable energy, smart grid, and demand-response programs on power system operations.  The tool allows you to visualize and analyze:

• Total U.S. and regional electricity demand on an hourly basis
• The varied mix of energy sources used to generate electricity at different times and locations
• The hourly flow of electricity between electric systems
• The wide variety in electric systems’ daily demand shapes and the seasonality of daily demand patterns
• The extent to which electric systems rely on internal and external sources of supply to meet their demand
• Potential stress on electric systems when actual demand significantly exceeds forecasted demand
• Total hourly flows of electricity with Canada and Mexico

Have fun exploring!