LEARN
How the grid actually works.
Short explainers, no jargon. The questions behind the map: why power costs what it does, how it gets to you, and what's quietly reshaping the system.
01 How is electricity priced? Why your bill is bigger than the cost of the fuel. → 02 What is marginal pricing? Why you pay for the most expensive plant running. → 03 Baseload vs. peaker plants The always-on workhorses vs. the on-demand plants. → 04 What is capacity factor? Why a 1 GW nuclear plant beats a 1 GW solar farm. → 05 What is an electric grid? The largest machine ever built, balanced every second. → 06 Transmission vs. distribution The highways and side streets of power. → 07 The interconnection queue Why plugging a plant in takes years. → 08 What is a fuel mix? How to read what's actually powering a grid. →
ON THE MAP
Lessons on the live map
Narrated tours that fly the map from place to place, from the Texas grid to Japan's two frequencies. Each one opens in the app's Time Machine.
01 France goes nuclear Fly France's nuclear map, from the oil shocks and river fleet to hydro storage, new coastal power and the live RTE grid. 12 stops. → 02 The oil weapon Eight weeks in 1973 that reshaped every grid on Earth. 7 stops. → 03 Lights for the last mile Nine in ten American farms had no power in 1935. Co-ops fixed it in a generation. 4 stops. → 04 The Carolina solar surprise Why North Carolina, not a sunbelt cliché, became an early US solar giant. 4 stops. → 05 The shale gas flip Fracking made gas cheap and quietly rewired the entire US power sector. 4 stops. → 06 ERCOT: the island grid Fly the Texas grid, from West Texas wind to Gulf Coast power and the live island. 10 stops. → 07 California: sun and storage Follow California's solar day into an evening balanced by batteries, gas and imports. 12 stops. → 08 SPP: wind across the Plains Fly the Plains from a wartime power pool through wind, winter stress, new wires, and the West. 11 stops. → 09 MISO: the long grid Fly MISO from a northern capacity shortfall through wind, nuclear, transmission, and new load in the South. 11 stops. → 10 PJM: power for the data-center boom Fly PJM from its first power pool through data-center growth, capacity shocks, nuclear contracts and a new transmission backbone. 12 stops. → 11 NYISO: power downstate Fly New York from Niagara to the city's load pocket, then open the live NYISO grid. 12 stops. → 12 ISO-NE: the winter grid Fly New England from its gas-constrained winter system through nuclear closures, midday solar, new transmission, offshore wind and capacity-market reform. 11 stops. → 13 Ontario: from blackout to coal-free grid Fly Ontario from Niagara and the Northeast blackout through coal's end, nuclear refurbishment, market renewal and the live IESO grid. 12 stops. → 14 Alberta's energy-only grid Fly Alberta from an energy-only power pool through coal-to-gas conversions, a renewable build, a grid emergency and its next market design. 12 stops. → 15 Québec's hydro interconnection Fly Québec's hydro grid through northern powerhouses, converter ties, historic outages, Labrador power, new export links and the live system panel. 11 stops. → 16 Mexico: the SIN and the Baja systems Follow Mexico from the SIN and Baja's separate systems through hydro, nuclear, geothermal and solar landmarks, market reform, blackouts and the live CENACE view. 11 stops. → 17 Britain switches off coal Follow Britain from the valleys of its coal fleet to offshore wind, storage, interconnectors and a coal-free grid. 12 stops. → 18 Germany's Energiewende Follow Germany's industrial grid from feed-in tariffs and lignite pits through the nuclear exit to renewables, new wires and the live mix. 12 stops. → 19 Brazil: a grid that runs on rain Follow Brazil's water grid from its great dams and droughts to wind, solar, nuclear power and the live ONS mix. 12 stops. → 20 Spain: sun, wind and the blackout Follow Spain's sun-and-wind system through storage, nuclear policy, the French bottleneck, the Iberian blackout and the live grid. 12 stops. → 21 Australia: the rooftop grid Fly Australia's split grids from rooftop solar and a statewide blackout through a coal exit, a delayed closure, storage and the live east-west balance. 11 stops. → 22 Japan's split-frequency grid Cross Japan's frequency seam, then follow Fukushima, reactor restarts, Kyushu's solar surge and the live Tokyo grid. 11 stops. → 23 India: one grid, rising sun Follow the blackout into one synchronized nation, then see coal's weight, the solar build, and today's live all-India grid. 11 stops. → 24 South Africa: from load shedding to recovery Trace South Africa's power system from load-shedding stages and the coal build to Koeberg, renewable procurement and the Southern African Power Pool. 12 stops. →