Importing Electricity Screensaver
The Importing Electricity screensaver shows the flow across each of Britain's subsea electricity interconnectors — to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and both parts of Ireland — with imports drawn to the right of zero and exports to the left. It runs in the browser with nothing to install; press ESC to exit.
How the Importing Electricity screensaver works
The saver reads Elexon's BMRS interconnector outturn feed, key-free.
No account and no key: the request goes straight from your browser, or from this site's own refreshed copy of the feed where the source does not permit browser access.
Values are drawn on a canvas that resizes with the window, so it works on a laptop or a wall display.
If the source is unreachable the saver says so on screen rather than showing stale numbers as though they were current.
A worked example
Each cable gets a bar centred on zero: green to the right for power arriving, orange to the left for power leaving. Direction flips through the day depending on which side of the cable is cheaper at that half hour. On a windy British afternoon several bars swing left at once and the country becomes a net exporter, which is a relatively recent thing to be able to watch happen.
Settings & tips
- Accent and Background recolour the display without changing the data.
- Add it to a Multi-view grid to watch it alongside other live savers.
- Press ESC at any time to leave fullscreen.
Frequently asked questions
- Why do the flows reverse?
- Because interconnectors are traded, not fixed. Power moves toward the higher price, so when British wind is abundant and prices fall below the continent's, the cables reverse and Britain exports.
- How much can they carry?
- Individually between about 500 and 1,400 megawatts. Together they are equivalent to several large power stations, which is why their direction matters to the whole system.
- Is this real data?
- Yes. It comes from Elexon's BMRS interconnector outturn feed, key-free. Nothing is invented or simulated, and if the source cannot be reached the saver reports that instead of drawing something plausible.
- Does it cost anything or need an account?
- No. Every screensaver here is free, runs in the browser and needs no sign-up. This one uses a public API that requires no key.