Linking Electricity Maps as a source
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This source is currently in alpha. The interface and available tables may change.
The Electricity Maps connector syncs hourly carbon intensity and power breakdown 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. - 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.
Configuration
| Option | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|
API token | password | Yes |
Zones | text | Yes |
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 | — |
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.
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.