Southwest Power Pool

Central Plains

63%Low strain

Grid Stress Index · demand vs. 1-yr peak

The wind belt. On gusty nights renewables can supply the bulk of demand across the central plains.

Grid Stress Index

63%

⚾ Batting average

Current demand as a share of the past year's peak. 95%+ means the grid is near its limit.

Peak Load (7d)

56.9 GW

⚾ Home runs

The biggest single-hour demand spike over the last week.

Clean Generation

35%

⚾ On-base %

Share of generation from wind, solar, hydro, nuclear & geothermal right now.

Fossil Baseline

28.4 GW

⚾ Small ball

Power coming from coal, gas & oil — the grid's heavy lifting when renewables dip.

Demand vs. forecast

last 7 days · GW

Amber = actual demand · blue dashed = day-ahead forecast.

Fuel mix

Aug 18, 12:00 AM ET

What's generating the electricity for this hour.

Natural Gas35%
Coal30%
Wind29%
Nuclear4%
Hydro1%
Other0%
Battery0%

Demand trend

+14% avg demand · 2019–2026

Monthly average demand (amber) with the monthly baseload — the lowest hour of each month (cyan). A rising floor is the signature of always-on data-center load.

Latest demand reading: Aug 18, 9:00 AM ET · 36.3 GW