The Grid in Focus
A LinkedIn series · Updated weekly

Energy networks data,
decoded.

Britain's energy system publishes a colossal amount of data. Most of it sits in PDFs, CSVs, and dashboards that assume you already know what you're looking for. This series turns that raw output into something you can read in two minutes.

— What this is

One question. One dataset. One chart that earns its place. Every dashboard pulls live from the source — NESO, ENA, Ofgem, the DNOs — so the numbers move when the grid does.

Built for the curious non-specialist as much as the practitioner.

i.
Live, not static
Every dashboard fetches data on page load where possible. No screenshots, no stale numbers, no "as of" footnotes that age badly.
ii.
Source over speculation
Public data only — NESO Data Portal, Ofgem, ENA Open Networks and more. Methodology stated, links provided.
iii.
One insight per post
No dashboards-of-dashboards. Each post answers a single question with the visual that best earns its space.

The series so far

6 Live · 6 More Being Planned

Where did Britain's electricity actually come from this month?

Thirty days of generation mix data. How much of the month was wind-driven, when gas had to step in, and how the carbon intensity curve actually looks day to day.

NESO Carbon Intensity API · daily refresh

£1.7 billion to turn wind farms off.

Constraint payments are now bigger than the entire balancing budget was in 2018. Seven years of cost data, what's actually driving the bill, and where it's heading by 2030.

NESO Annual Balancing Costs Report

A 722 GW queue, reshaped to 283 GW.

The largest connections clear-out Britain has ever done. The pre-reform queue, the post-reform pipeline, the technology mix, and how it all maps to the Clean Power 2030 capacity range.

NESO Connections Reform Results

When does Britain use the most electricity?

A heatmap of demand by hour-of-day and day-of-week across a year. Where the duck curve is forming, and where the flexibility opportunities are hiding.

NESO Historic Demand · half-hourly

What the FES tells us about 2030.

Future Energy Scenarios capacity build-out trajectories. The gap between current build rates and the trajectories the grid actually needs.

NESO Future Energy Scenarios

Who runs your bit of the grid ?

Britain's six distribution network operators, the 14 areas they serve, and the company that actually owns the wires to your meter. Enter your postcode to find yours, then see how it's performing under RIIO-ED2.

Ofgem RIIO-ED2 Annual Report · Postcodes.io

The quiet revolution on your street.

EVs, heat pumps, solar, home batteries. They're connecting to Britain's local electricity network faster than it was designed for. Includes an interactive model — set the mix on a 40-home street and watch the substation load respond in real time.

DESNZ · SMMT · Zapmap · Carbon Intensity API

Who is Britain trading electricity with?

Live flows across the interconnectors to France, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Ireland. When we import, when we export, and what the direction tells you about the system.

Elexon BMRS · ENTSO-E Transparency

Why does it take 10 years to build a pylon?

Britain is paying £1.8bn a year to switch wind farms off because there aren't enough cables to carry the power south. The fix exists. The process of getting permission to build it takes a decade. Includes an interactive stage-by-stage breakdown and a calculator to find your personal share of the £1.8bn.

NESO · Planning Inspectorate · National Grid RIIO-T3

What you actually pay for the network.

Use of system charges, capacity charges, the TNUoS regional split. The bit of your bill that pays for the wires — and why it varies by where you live and when you use power.

NESO TNUoS · Ofgem charging methodology

Clean Power 2030: are we on track?

The flagship scorecard. Every Clean Power 2030 capacity target, set against what's been commissioned, what's under construction, and what's still just on paper.

NESO CP30 plan · ENA build data · DESNZ
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What should come next?

The series wraps at twelve, but there's plenty more in the data worth surfacing. If there's a question you keep wishing someone had a chart for — say so.

DM on LinkedIn
— About the series

Why I'm doing this.

I work in the UK energy sector and spend a lot of my time helping colleagues and clients navigate datasets. Whilst that is confidential, there is a wealth of data in the public domain. This series will bring that publicly available data to life, so you don't have to. Built in the open, designed to be readable in the time it takes to drink half a coffee.

Each post lands on LinkedIn first. The full interactive dashboards live here.