{ "$schema": "https://lettuce.energy/schemas/data-source-registry.v1.json", "version": "2026-08-27", "philosophy": "Every datapoint in the Lettuce Energy Atlas must trace to a public, citable source. We do not fabricate numbers. When a value is a directional heuristic derived from public sources rather than a direct reading, it is labeled 'derived' with the inputs disclosed. Phase 1 uses only free, authoritative datasets. Commercial APIs are introduced only where they materially improve customer decisions.", "phases": { "phase1_free_authoritative": "In production — the sources listed with phase=1 back the current Atlas.", "phase2_iso_realtime": "Planned — real-time ISO LMPs, congestion, ancillary prices.", "phase3_commercial": "Under evaluation — commercial datasets that create decisive advantage." }, "sources": [ { "id": "eia-api-v2", "name": "U.S. Energy Information Administration — Open Data API v2", "publisher": "EIA (U.S. Department of Energy)", "url": "https://www.eia.gov/opendata/", "docs": "https://www.eia.gov/opendata/documentation.php", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work (public domain)", "authRequired": true, "authType": "api_key", "coverage": "United States (national, state, plant-level for many series)", "cadence": "monthly", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["retail_price", "generation_mix", "capacity", "consumption", "co2_intensity"], "notes": "Primary source of state-level retail electricity prices and generation-mix data used in the Atlas Energy Score." }, { "id": "eia-form-860", "name": "EIA Form 860 — Annual Electric Generator Report", "publisher": "EIA", "url": "https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860/", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "Every operating and planned generator ≥1 MW in the United States", "cadence": "annual (preliminary June, final September)", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["generation_facilities", "planned_generation", "capacity_by_technology", "ownership"], "notes": "Plant-level truth for the Generation layer. Includes lat/lon, nameplate MW, technology, primary fuel, in-service date, and owner." }, { "id": "bts-ntad", "name": "BTS National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD)", "publisher": "Bureau of Transportation Statistics (U.S. DOT)", "url": "https://geo.dot.gov/server/rest/services/NTAD", "docs": "https://www.bts.gov/ntad", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work (public domain)", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "United States — rail network, rail stations, intermodal freight facilities, principal ports, navigable waterways, airports", "cadence": "annual", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["rail_network", "intermodal_terminals", "ports", "navigable_waterways", "airports", "intermodal_siting", "freight_load_forecast"], "notes": "Ingested by scripts/ingest-ntad-transport.js, which resolves services from the ArcGIS directory by keyword rather than hardcoding URLs — NTAD service names change between annual releases. Port tonnage and airport enplanements are the freight/passenger load signals." }, { "id": "osm-charging", "name": "OpenStreetMap — EV charging stations", "publisher": "OpenStreetMap contributors", "url": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright", "docs": "https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:amenity%3Dcharging_station", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "ODbL 1.0 — attribution required", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "United States — amenity=charging_station with brand/operator/network tags", "cadence": "continuous (re-crawled on demand)", "reliability": "community-maintained", "usedFor": ["ev_charging", "corridor_analysis", "fleet_siting"], "notes": "Replaces the NREL AFDC DEMO_KEY dependency. Ingested by scripts/ingest-osm-charging.js via the keyless Overpass API. Covers Tesla Supercharger, Electrify America, EVgo, ChargePoint and peers. Port counts are best-effort from socket:* and capacity tags, so treat station counts as more reliable than port counts. Attribution to OpenStreetMap contributors is a licence condition." }, { "id": "eia-form-923", "name": "EIA Form 923 — Power Plant Operations", "publisher": "EIA", "url": "https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia923/", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "Monthly generation, fuel consumption, and emissions for plants ≥1 MW", "cadence": "monthly (three-month lag)", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["actual_generation", "capacity_factors", "fuel_costs"], "notes": "Ground-truth generation data used to calibrate capacity-factor assumptions." }, { "id": "eia-861", "name": "EIA Form 861 — Annual Electric Power Industry Report", "publisher": "EIA", "url": "https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia861/", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "Every U.S. electric utility", "cadence": "annual", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["utility_service_territories", "customer_counts", "sales_by_sector", "retail_choice"], "notes": "Backs the Utility layer. Companion GIS layer is Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data (HIFLD)." }, { "id": "hifld-electric", "name": "HIFLD Open — Electric Infrastructure", "publisher": "U.S. Department of Homeland Security (CISA)", "url": "https://hifld-geoplatform.opendata.arcgis.com/", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "United States", "cadence": "quarterly", "reliability": "authoritative-with-caveats", "usedFor": ["substations", "transmission_lines", "power_plants_geometry", "utility_service_territory_polygons"], "notes": "Geometry source for the Grid layer. Substation MVA ratings and transmission voltage classes are usable but should be sanity-checked against utility filings." }, { "id": "ferc-form-715", "name": "FERC Form 715 — Annual Transmission Planning and Evaluation Report", "publisher": "Federal Energy Regulatory Commission", "url": "https://www.ferc.gov/industries-data/electric/general-information/electric-industry-forms/form-no-715-annual-transmission", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "All FERC-jurisdictional transmission owners", "cadence": "annual", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["transmission_plans", "power_flow_models"], "notes": "Confidential portions are CEII-restricted. Public summaries used only." }, { "id": "ferc-eqr", "name": "FERC Electric Quarterly Reports (EQR)", "publisher": "FERC", "url": "https://www.ferc.gov/power-sales-and-markets/electric-quarterly-reports-eqr", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "All FERC-jurisdictional wholesale power sellers", "cadence": "quarterly", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["wholesale_contract_prices", "ppa_comparables", "market_activity"], "notes": "Only source of anonymized wholesale contract-level pricing. Backs the Markets layer." }, { "id": "nrel-nsrdb", "name": "NREL National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB)", "publisher": "National Renewable Energy Laboratory", "url": "https://nsrdb.nrel.gov/", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": true, "authType": "api_key", "coverage": "United States (4 km grid) plus much of the Americas, South Asia", "cadence": "annual updates; hourly historical from 1998", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["solar_ghi", "solar_dni", "solar_potential_score"], "notes": "Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) drives the Solar Potential component of the Atlas Score." }, { "id": "nrel-wind-toolkit", "name": "NREL WIND Toolkit", "publisher": "NREL", "url": "https://www.nrel.gov/grid/wind-toolkit.html", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": true, "authType": "api_key", "coverage": "Continental United States", "cadence": "static historical (2007–2013 baseline)", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["wind_speed_80m", "wind_speed_100m", "wind_potential_score"], "notes": "Hub-height wind resource used for the Wind Potential score." }, { "id": "nrel-pvwatts", "name": "NREL PVWatts v8 API", "publisher": "NREL", "url": "https://developer.nrel.gov/docs/solar/pvwatts/v8/", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": true, "authType": "api_key", "coverage": "Global (best coverage in United States)", "cadence": "live", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["annual_kwh_estimate", "capacity_factor_estimate"], "notes": "Estimated annual PV output per site — used in per-location Solar Mode." }, { "id": "dsire", "name": "DSIRE — Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency", "publisher": "NC Clean Energy Technology Center (NC State University)", "url": "https://www.dsireusa.org/", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "attribution required", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "United States (all states + territories)", "cadence": "continuously updated", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["state_incentives", "rps_targets", "storage_incentives", "policy_score"], "notes": "Canonical source for state and federal renewable / storage / EV incentives. Backs the Policy layer." }, { "id": "epa-egrid", "name": "EPA eGRID — Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database", "publisher": "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency", "url": "https://www.epa.gov/egrid", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "United States (national, eGRID subregion, state, plant)", "cadence": "annual (18-month lag)", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["grid_co2_intensity", "eGrid_subregion_boundaries", "emissions_by_plant"], "notes": "Definitive source of grid carbon intensity by subregion. Used for the Carbon overlay." }, { "id": "usgs-nhd", "name": "USGS National Hydrography Dataset", "publisher": "U.S. Geological Survey", "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/national-hydrography/national-hydrography-dataset", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "United States", "cadence": "continuously updated", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["surface_water", "water_availability_for_cooling"], "notes": "Data Center Mode uses surface-water proximity as a proxy for cooling access." }, { "id": "noaa-climate-normals", "name": "NOAA U.S. Climate Normals (1991–2020)", "publisher": "National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/land-based-station/us-climate-normals", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "United States", "cadence": "updated every decade", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["ambient_temperature", "heating_cooling_degree_days", "climate_suitability_dc_mode"], "notes": "Data Center Mode: cooler climates score higher for free-cooling potential." }, { "id": "census-tiger", "name": "U.S. Census TIGER/Line Shapefiles", "publisher": "U.S. Census Bureau", "url": "https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-line-file.html", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "United States (state, county, ZCTA, tract, block)", "cadence": "annual", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["boundaries", "population_denominators", "urbanization"], "notes": "Boundary geometry underpinning every state and county rollup." }, { "id": "us-atlas", "name": "us-atlas — TopoJSON boundaries of U.S. states and counties", "publisher": "Mike Bostock / Observable (derived from Census TIGER)", "url": "https://github.com/topojson/us-atlas", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "ISC", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "United States", "cadence": "versioned", "reliability": "authoritative-derivative", "usedFor": ["map_rendering"], "notes": "The compact TopoJSON used to render the Atlas map. Loaded from jsDelivr CDN." }, { "id": "openstreetmap", "name": "OpenStreetMap", "publisher": "OpenStreetMap Foundation", "url": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "ODbL", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "Global", "cadence": "live", "reliability": "community", "usedFor": ["roads", "industrial_zones", "context_geometry"], "notes": "Used for supplementary context. All derivative datasets attribute © OpenStreetMap contributors." }, { "id": "ercot-public", "name": "ERCOT Public Reports & MIS", "publisher": "Electric Reliability Council of Texas", "url": "https://www.ercot.com/mp/data-products", "phase": 2, "cost": "free", "license": "ERCOT Public", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "ERCOT (most of Texas)", "cadence": "5-minute LMPs, daily/weekly reports", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["real_time_lmp", "day_ahead_prices", "interconnection_queue", "ancillary_prices"], "notes": "Most open ISO in the U.S. First-priority integration for Battery Mode and Data Center Mode economics." }, { "id": "caiso-oasis", "name": "CAISO OASIS", "publisher": "California ISO", "url": "https://oasis.caiso.com/", "phase": 2, "cost": "free", "license": "CAISO Public", "authRequired": true, "authType": "registration", "coverage": "California, portions of NV", "cadence": "5-minute", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["real_time_lmp", "congestion", "renewable_curtailment"], "notes": "Backs Storage Mode economics in the WECC footprint." }, { "id": "pjm-data-miner", "name": "PJM Data Miner 2", "publisher": "PJM Interconnection", "url": "https://dataminer2.pjm.com/", "phase": 2, "cost": "free (rate-limited)", "license": "PJM Public", "authRequired": true, "authType": "registration", "coverage": "PJM footprint (13 states + DC)", "cadence": "5-minute LMPs, daily queue updates", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["real_time_lmp", "capacity_market_prices", "interconnection_queue"], "notes": "PJM capacity auction results are pivotal for data-center site selection in Virginia, Ohio, PA." }, { "id": "miso-market-reports", "name": "MISO Market Reports", "publisher": "Midcontinent ISO", "url": "https://www.misoenergy.org/markets-and-operations/market-reports/", "phase": 2, "cost": "free", "license": "MISO Public", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "MISO footprint (15 states + Manitoba)", "cadence": "hourly / daily", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["lmp", "queue", "capacity"], "notes": "Central to Generation Mode analysis in the Midwest wind belt." }, { "id": "spp-marketplace", "name": "SPP Marketplace Portal", "publisher": "Southwest Power Pool", "url": "https://marketplace.spp.org/", "phase": 2, "cost": "free", "license": "SPP Public", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "SPP footprint (14 states)", "cadence": "5-minute", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["lmp", "queue"], "notes": "SPP hosts some of the highest wind capacity factors in the country." }, { "id": "nyiso-oasis", "name": "NYISO OASIS", "publisher": "New York ISO", "url": "https://www.nyiso.com/energy-market-operational-data", "phase": 2, "cost": "free", "license": "NYISO Public", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "New York State", "cadence": "5-minute", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["lmp", "capacity", "renewable_credits"] }, { "id": "isone-webservices", "name": "ISO-NE Web Services", "publisher": "ISO New England", "url": "https://www.iso-ne.com/isoexpress/web/reports/pricing", "phase": 2, "cost": "free", "license": "ISO-NE Public", "authRequired": true, "authType": "registration", "coverage": "Six New England states", "cadence": "5-minute", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["lmp", "capacity", "queue"] }, { "id": "afdc", "name": "DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center — Station Locator", "publisher": "U.S. Department of Energy", "url": "https://afdc.energy.gov/stations/", "phase": 1, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "United States, Canada", "cadence": "daily", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["ev_charging_locations", "charger_counts_by_state"], "notes": "Backs the EV Charging layer." }, { "id": "epa-tri-industrial", "name": "EPA Facility Registry Service (industrial loads)", "publisher": "EPA", "url": "https://www.epa.gov/frs", "phase": 2, "cost": "free", "license": "U.S. Government Work", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "United States", "cadence": "quarterly", "reliability": "authoritative", "usedFor": ["large_industrial_loads", "manufacturing_context"] }, { "id": "commerce-datacenter-announcements", "name": "Public data-center project announcements", "publisher": "Lettuce Energy (aggregated from press releases, state economic development filings, and permitting dockets)", "url": "https://lettuce.energy/atlas/data-centers", "phase": 2, "cost": "free", "license": "aggregated public information", "authRequired": false, "coverage": "United States", "cadence": "as announced", "reliability": "curated", "usedFor": ["large_load_announcements", "demand_growth_score"], "notes": "Lettuce-maintained. Each entry cites the primary press release or filing." } ], "underEvaluation": [ { "id": "gridstatus", "name": "gridstatus.io API", "reason": "Consolidated ISO/RTO real-time feeds. Considering as a Phase 2 accelerator vs. direct ISO integration." }, { "id": "genscape", "name": "Wood Mackenzie / Genscape", "reason": "Commercial gold-standard for real-time generation and pipeline flows. High cost — deferred to Phase 3." }, { "id": "s-and-p-market-intelligence", "name": "S&P Global Market Intelligence — Energy", "reason": "Commercial capacity forecasts and queue analytics. Phase 3." } ], "exclusions": [ { "topic": "Real-time customer-meter data", "reason": "Regulated under state PUC rules and utility tariffs. Lettuce will not access individual customer usage without explicit authorization and applicable Green Button OAuth flows." }, { "topic": "CEII-restricted transmission data", "reason": "FERC Critical Energy Infrastructure Information rules. Lettuce uses only public FERC filings and public HIFLD substation data." }, { "topic": "Proprietary utility interconnection study results", "reason": "Confidential to the applicant. Lettuce publishes only queue-position and status data that ISOs disclose publicly." } ] }