This repository contains the source code for National Grid: Live.
The development environment uses Docker.
Copy .env.example to .env and edit the values as appropriate. At a minimum, DATABASE_PASSWORD must be given a value.
To start the containers:
docker compose up --detach
Once the containers are running, you can view the site at http://localhost:9714/. Port 9714 was chosen due to its slight resemblance to the word ‘grid’.
To run the update script:
docker compose exec php php /var/grid/update.php
To stop the containers:
docker compose down
The production environment does not use Docker, instead running directly on the server. PHP 8.3 and a recent version MariaDB or MySQL are required.
Copy .env.example to .env and edit the values as appropriate. At a minimum, DATABASE_PASSWORD must be given a value. DATABASE_HOSTNAME should be changed to localhost if the database is running on the same server.
Upload .env, update.php, and the classes and public directories to the server.
Create a database and a user with SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE privileges, and import grid.sql into the database.
Configure the server to serve the contents of the public directory. Note that this directory contains only static files, so the web server does not need to support PHP.
Set up a cron job to execute the update.php script (using the PHP CLI SAPI) every five minutes. The cron job must run as a user with write access to public/favicon.svg and public/index.html.
The script outputs details of the update process to standard output, and details of errors to standard error. An error with an individual data source does not abort the rest of the update process.
The CSS refers to proza-light.woff2 and proza-regular.woff2. These are commercial fonts, so are not included in this repository. Licences for Proza can be purchased from Bureau Roffa. Alternatively, the simplified free version Proza Libre can be used instead.
National Grid: Live uses Cloudflare’s content delivery network. Visit counts will be retrieved from Cloudflare if the CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN and CLOUDFLARE_ZONE_ID environment variables are set to non-empty strings. The Cloudflare API token must be configured to provide Analytics Read access for the zone.
PHP classes can be found in the classes directory. The Database class directly within this directory is responsible for all database access. The other classes are divided into three namespaces:
The Data namespace contains classes for reading data from the various data sources, as documented further below.
The State namespace contains classes representing the data needed to output the user interface. The State class is the overall container; an instance of this class is returned by the getState() method of a Database instance.
The UI namespace contains classes that output the user interface. The UI class has overall responsibility for outputting the HTML, while the Favicon class outputs the dynamically-updated favicon.
This API, developed by Elexon, reports power generation connected to the national transmission network, interconnector imports and exports, and pricing.
Data is available in JSON format at 30-minute or 5-minute granularity.
PHP classes: Generation, Pricing
This API, developed by National Grid ESO, estimates power generation from embedded solar and wind (generation connected to the local distribution network rather than the national transmission network).
Data is available in CSV format at 30-minute granularity. Estimates may be retrospectively updated.
PHP class: Demand
This API, developed by National Grid ESO and the University Of Oxford Department Of Computer Science, estimates the carbon intensity of electricity generation in grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour.
Data is available in JSON format at 30-minute granularity. Estimates may be retrospectively updated.
PHP class: Emissions
Battery storage data isn’t yet shown. Elexon Insights Solution includes several battery storage systems in its ‘other’ category, but only discharging is reported. Without charging being reported, this would lead to double-counting of generation.
I’m not currently planning any other major changes. I believe it’s better for a project like this to have a limited scope and a concise interface serving the general public than to attempt to offer specialised analysis for energy industry experts.
