Linking Electricity Maps as a source
This source is currently in beta. It works end to end, but you may still hit rough edges. Let us know if you do.
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Contents
The Electricity Maps connector syncs carbon intensity, power breakdown, day-ahead electricity prices, carbon intensity forecasts, and zone reference data for the grid zones you choose into PostHog, so you can analyze the carbon footprint of your infrastructure alongside your product data.
Prerequisites
You need an Electricity Maps API token, created in the Electricity Maps portal. Which zones you can query and how far back history goes depend on your Electricity Maps plan.
Adding a data source
- In PostHog, go to the Sources tab of the data pipeline section.
- Click + New source and click Link next to this source.
- Enter your credentials (see Configuration below) and click Next.
- Select the tables you want to sync, choose a sync method and frequency, then click Import.
Once the syncs are complete, you can start querying this data in PostHog.
When linking Electricity Maps, you'll need:
- API token: create one in the Electricity Maps portal.
- Zones: a comma-separated list of zone identifiers to sync, like
DE, DK-DK1, US-CAL-CISO. The/v3/zonesendpoint of the Electricity Maps API lists every zone identifier. - Pricing nodes (optional): a comma-separated list of United States pricing node identifiers, like
CORTINA_1_N106. Only needed if you want to sync thelocational_marginal_price_day_aheadtable. - Days of history to sync initially (optional): how far back the first sync reaches. Defaults to 30 days. Set it to what your Electricity Maps plan allows.
Each synced row is one hour of data for one zone.
Sync modes
Each table can be synced in one of several modes, depending on what the source supports:
- Webhook (when available) – the source pushes changes to PostHog in real time. Fastest freshness, lowest ongoing cost, and the only mode that reliably captures updates and deletes.
- Incremental – only new or updated rows are synced on each run, using a cursor field (such as an
updated_attimestamp). Cheaper than a full refresh, but deletes aren't captured. - Append only – new rows are appended using a cursor field; existing rows are never updated. Ideal for immutable, append-only tables like event logs.
- Full refresh – the whole table is reloaded on every sync. Use it when a table has no reliable cursor or when you need deletions reflected.
See sync methods for a full explanation of how each mode works and how to choose between them.
Incremental syncs use the hourly datetime field, so each sync only requests hours after the last synced one. Note that Electricity Maps can revise recent data points after publishing them. Run a full refresh if you need those revisions on already-synced hours.
The carbon_intensity_forecast and zones tables only support full refresh. The forecast table always contains the latest published forecast, and the zones table provides reference data for resolving zone identifiers.
Configuration
| Option | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|
API token | password | Yes |
Zones | text | Yes |
Pricing nodes | text | No |
Days of history to sync initially | number | No |
Supported tables
| Table | Description | Sync method | Incremental field | Primary key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
carbon_intensity | Hourly carbon intensity of electricity consumed in a zone, in grams of CO2 equivalent per kilowatt-hour (gCO2eq/kWh). | Incremental, Full refresh | datetime | — |
power_breakdown | Hourly origin of electricity in a zone: production, consumption, import and export flows broken down by source, in megawatts (MW). | Incremental, Full refresh | datetime | — |
price_day_ahead | Hourly day-ahead electricity market price in a zone, in the currency and unit given on each row (for example EUR/MWh). | Incremental, Full refresh | datetime | — |
locational_marginal_price_day_ahead | Hourly day-ahead locational marginal price (LMP) at a United States pricing node, with its energy, congestion, loss and greenhouse gas components. | Incremental, Full refresh | datetime | — |
carbon_intensity_forecast | Latest hourly carbon intensity forecast for a zone, in gCO2eq/kWh. Each sync replaces the table with the forecast Electricity Maps has most recently published. | Full refresh | — | — |
zones | Electricity Maps zones, with names, countries and parent zones, for resolving the zone identifiers on other Electricity Maps tables. | Full refresh | — | — |
Troubleshooting
- Zone access errors: zone availability is gated by your Electricity Maps plan. If validation fails for a zone, check your plan in the Electricity Maps portal or remove the zone from the source settings.
- History range errors: if syncs fail with a permission error, lower the days of history to what your plan allows.
- Locational marginal price table unavailable: the
locational_marginal_price_day_aheadtable requires at least one pricing node. Add US pricing node identifiers (likeCORTINA_1_N106) in the Pricing nodes field to enable this table.
If your sync is failing or data looks wrong, see the Data warehouse troubleshooting guide. If that doesn't help, contact support – we're happy to help.