Twelve regions, one structure: the system, who decides, the main challenges, what researchers ask, key numbers with their sources, and the date they were checked. The cards describe; none ranks regions or judges a policy.
How to read the numbers
- Power and energy
- GW, MW and kW measure power, a rate; TWh, GWh and kWh measure energy, an amount. 1 TWh = 1,000 GWh = 1 billion kWh.
- Fossil, non-fossil
- Fossil fuels are coal, oil and gas; non-fossil is everything else, nuclear included.
- Renewable, clean
- Renewables are hydro, wind, solar, bioenergy and geothermal; Ember's 'clean' adds nuclear to them.
- Non-conventional renewable
- A category in Chilean law that leaves out large hydro.
- Prices
- Hawaii's are in US cents per kWh.
- Dates
- Each citation gives the source's date and the year its data describe; each card ends with the day its numbers were checked.
All twelve cards are below; with JavaScript on, a filter shows them by each card's focus.
- System structure
- Seven independent grid operators (ISOs and RTOs) run wholesale markets; elsewhere vertically integrated utilities own plants and wires, as in much of the Southeast and West.
- Three main grids, the interconnections, weakly linked to one another.
- Gas is the largest source of electricity; demand is rising again with data centers, manufacturing and electrification.
- Institutions
- FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission): wholesale markets and interstate transmission.
- NERC (North American Electric Reliability Corporation): reliability standards.
- DOE (Department of Energy) and EIA, its statistics agency: research, policy and statistics.
- State utility commissions: retail rates.
- ISOs and RTOs: grid operation and markets.
- Main challenges
- A long interconnection backlog, and who pays for new transmission.
- Adequacy, enough supply in nearly every hour, as large loads arrive and older plants retire.
- Extreme weather.
- Distinctive research questions
- How much capacity can flexible large loads save?
- Do the cluster-study reforms after FERC Order 2023 shorten the time to operation?
- What does transmission between regions buy in extreme cold?
Checked 2 November 2026: each number was read on its source that day.
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Prairie Town's real-data home: the course's hourly shapes come from this grid in 2025, before its western expansion.
- System structure
- A regional transmission organization (RTO): it runs the bulk grid and the wholesale market for its members.
- One market since 1 March 2014, the Integrated Marketplace: day-ahead and real-time energy, reserves and congestion rights.
- In the Eastern Interconnection it sits between MISO to the east and ERCOT to the south.
- Since 1 April 2026 its RTO services also reach parts of seven western states, in the Western Interconnection.
- Institutions
- SPP: reliability coordination, scheduling, transmission planning and the wholesale market.
- FERC, the federal regulator: granted SPP its RTO status in 2004.
- SPP's Market Monitoring Unit: an independent monitor that reports on the market each year.
- Members: generation-and-transmission cooperatives, municipal systems, investor-owned utilities, independent transmission companies and power producers.
- Main challenges
- Congestion and wind curtailment: average hourly curtailment rose from 136 MW in 2019 to 1,097 MW in 2023.
- Winter adequacy and fuel supply: in February 2021 SPP cut regional demand twice, the first region-wide curtailments in its history.
- In 2025, rising gas prices, load growth and resource adequacy concerns.
- Distinctive research questions
- How much does new transmission cut wind curtailment and congestion?
- How should capacity be accredited when cold weather takes out many plants and their fuel at once?
- How should wind forecast uncertainty enter the day-ahead commitment?
Verified key numbers
- 161 members in all or part of 17 states, about 732,086 square miles; among them 26 generation-and-transmission cooperatives, 18 municipal systems and 16 investor-owned utilities. (Southwest Power Pool, updated October 2026; data: October 2026, after the western expansion)
- Wind made 36.7% of the 300,382 GWh produced in 2025, more than coal (29%) or gas (25.1%). (Southwest Power Pool, updated October 2026; data: 2025, before the western expansion)
- Wind capacity 35,934 MW at the end of 2025. (Southwest Power Pool, 27 May 2026; data: end of 2025, before the western expansion)
- Peak 58.0 GW on 27 July 2026, a record; the earlier peak was 56.0 GW on 21 August 2023. (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 15 October 2026; data: 27 July 2026, after the western expansion)
- February 2021: demand cut by about 1.5% for 50 minutes on 15 February and about 6.5% for about three hours on 16 February. (Southwest Power Pool, undated; data: February 2021)
Checked 7 November 2026: each number was read on its source that day.
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- System structure
- Unbundled: separate companies make, carry and sell power.
- Each price zone has its own price; coupled markets link the zones a day ahead and within the day.
- Dense interconnection between countries.
- Nuclear power, led by France, with wind and fast-growing solar.
- Flat demand overall, with clusters of data-center load.
- Institutions
- European Commission (DG ENER, its energy department): energy law and policy.
- ACER, the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators: links the national regulators.
- ENTSO-E, the European network of transmission system operators: grid plans.
- National regulators and transmission system operators (TSOs); Eurostat for statistics.
- Main challenges
- Congestion, and the cost of redispatch: paying plants to change their output so flows fit the lines.
- Negative prices, and falling solar capture prices.
- Security of supply after 2022.
- Slow permitting of grids.
- Distinctive research questions
- How does the design of price zones affect redispatch?
- Which mix of storage, demand response and interconnection cuts negative-price hours most?
- Which connection rules fit clusters of data-center load?
Checked 2 November 2026: each number was read on its source that day.
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- System structure
- State-owned grid companies; dispatch largely by province.
- Spot markets moving toward a unified national market; market pricing for new wind and solar since 2025.
- Ultra-high-voltage (UHV) lines carry power from west to east; coal still leads generation.
- Institutions
- NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission) and NEA (National Energy Administration): planning, prices and regulation.
- State Grid and China Southern Power Grid.
- China Electricity Council; the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
- Beijing and Guangzhou power exchanges.
- Main challenges
- Rising curtailment of wind and solar.
- Barriers to trade between provinces.
- Coal plants retrofitted for flexibility, and capacity payments.
- Distinctive research questions
- How do provincial spot designs affect how much wind and solar is used?
- Which mix of ultra-high-voltage lines, storage and flexible coal keeps curtailment low at least cost?
- How does market pricing change where wind and solar are built?
Checked 2 November 2026: each number was read on its source that day.
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- System structure
- State distribution companies (DISCOMs) buy power under long-term contracts.
- One national grid running at one frequency (synchronous).
- Coal makes most of the electricity, while most capacity is now non-fossil.
- The evening peak, after sunset, is the hardest time to meet demand.
- Institutions
- Ministry of Power and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
- Central Electricity Authority (CEA): national electricity planning.
- CERC (Central Electricity Regulatory Commission) and state commissions: regulation and tariffs.
- Grid-India (operator), CTUIL (transmission planning) and SECI (renewable tenders).
- Main challenges
- The finances of distribution companies.
- The evening peak in a solar-heavy system.
- Transmission and storage for the Rajasthan and Gujarat renewable zones.
- Distinctive research questions
- How much storage does each step in solar's share need?
- How do solar-powered farm feeders and time-of-day tariffs reshape load?
- Does market coupling outperform bilateral contracts?
Checked 2 November 2026: each number was read on its source that day.
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- System structure
- Japan: ten utility areas, nine of them interconnected; Okinawa's is separate.
- Japan's east runs at 50 Hz and its west at 60 Hz, joined by limited frequency converters.
- Japan: retail open to competition, a power exchange (JEPX) and a capacity market.
- South Korea: one network and retail company (KEPCO) and a cost-based pool (KPX).
- Both are isolated systems, without links to other countries, that import their fuels; nuclear plays a large role in both.
- Institutions
- Japan: METI and its energy agency (ANRE), OCCTO (coordination between the areas), the Nuclear Regulation Authority, JEPX (Japan Electric Power Exchange).
- South Korea: the government's energy ministry, KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corporation) and KPX (Korea Power Exchange).
- Main challenges
- Dependence on imported fuel.
- Curtailment and weak links between regions (Kyushu, Jeju).
- Finding sites for offshore wind.
- Distinctive research questions
- What would more 50/60 Hz converter capacity save?
- How should South Korea plan southwest offshore wind together with lines to Seoul?
- LNG storage or batteries as a hedge for supply security?
Checked 2 November 2026: each number was read on its source that day.
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- System structure
- Nord Pool bidding zones: each zone has its own price.
- Since October 2024 flow-based coupling limits trades by the flow on each line.
- Dense HVDC links.
- Hydro in Norway and Sweden, wind in Denmark; Sweden and Finland also run nuclear plants.
- New industrial, hydrogen and data-center loads; district heating in many cities.
- Institutions
- Grid operators: Statnett, Svenska kraftnät, Fingrid, Energinet.
- National regulators.
- Nord Pool: the power exchange.
- Statistics Norway (SSB) and Eurostat: statistics.
- Main challenges
- North-south congestion and price gaps.
- Dry-year risk for hydro.
- Little inertia, and new large loads.
- Distinctive research questions
- How has flow-based coupling changed price spreads?
- How should the value of stored water be modelled as wind grows?
- What flexibility can district heating give?
Verified key numbers
- Norway, 2025: 161.8 TWh generated, hydro 89.9%, a record net export of 22.8 TWh. (Statistics Norway, May 2026; data: 2025)
- Renewables' share of gross electricity consumption in 2024: Sweden 88.1%, Denmark 79.7%, Finland 54.3%. (Eurostat, 14 January 2026; data: 2024)
Checked 2 November 2026: each number was read on its source that day.
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- System structure
- Vertically integrated state utilities; single state buyers sign contracts with independent power producers and power-and-water plants.
- Oman runs a spot market; the GCC Interconnection Authority links all six states.
- Gas and oil make most electricity, with large solar tenders.
- The UAE also runs a nuclear plant.
- Institutions
- Saudi Arabia: Ministry of Energy, the regulator SERA, Saudi Electricity Company.
- UAE: Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, DEWA (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority), EWEC (Emirates Water and Electricity Company).
- Qatar's KAHRAMAA, its electricity and water utility; Oman's regulator APSR.
- The Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA).
- Main challenges
- The value of oil burned for power that could be sold.
- Summer peaks driven by cooling.
- Subsidised tariffs, and power and water plants that run together.
- Distinctive research questions
- How should power and water be planned together with solar and storage?
- How much peak can district cooling and thermal storage shave?
- What is reserve sharing through the GCCIA worth?
Checked 2 November 2026: each number was read on its source that day.
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- System structure
- Mostly vertically integrated state utilities; Nigeria unbundled in 2013, and South Africa's Eskom is unbundling.
- Thin regional power pools, groups of neighbouring countries that trade power: Southern (SAPP), West (WAPP), Eastern (EAPP) and Central African (CAPP).
- Hydro in many countries, coal in South Africa; diesel and off-grid solar where the grid does not reach.
- Institutions
- National utilities and regulators.
- The regional power pools.
- The African Development Bank, the World Bank and AUDA-NEPAD, the African Union's development agency.
- Main challenges
- The rural access gap.
- Utility finances, and load shedding: planned, rotating power cuts.
- Climate risk to hydro; a high cost of capital.
- Distinctive research questions
- Where is grid extension, a mini-grid or a solar home system the least-cost way to connect people?
- What is regional trade worth when river flows vary?
- Which tariffs make mini-grids viable?
Checked 2 November 2026: each number was read on its source that day.
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- System structure
- Brazil: a hydro-dominated national grid (the SIN, its National Interconnected System), cost-based dispatch, auctions plus a free market.
- Chile: liberalised, with cost-based dispatch on one long north-south grid.
- Mexico: the state utility CFE (Federal Electricity Commission) dominates after the 2025 reform.
- Institutions
- Brazil: MME (the energy ministry), the regulator ANEEL, the operator ONS, the planner EPE, the trading chamber CCEE.
- Chile: the energy commission CNE and the operator CEN.
- Mexico: SENER (the energy ministry), the operator CENACE, CFE.
- OLADE, the Latin American Energy Organization.
- Main challenges
- Drought risk to hydro.
- Curtailment and transmission bottlenecks in northern Chile.
- Investment uncertainty in Mexico.
- Distinctive research questions
- How should reservoirs be run together with wind and solar under drought?
- Which storage and transmission cut Chile's curtailment most cheaply?
- How do compensation rules for rooftop and other distributed generation shift costs?
Verified key numbers
- Brazil, 2025: hydro 52% of electricity, wind and solar 27%, clean sources 89%. (Ember, a compiler of official statistics, updated 30 October 2026; data: 2025)
- Chile: 20,483.5 MW of non-conventional renewable capacity out of 39,104.4 MW installed, November 2025. (Coordinador Eléctrico Nacional, December 2025; data: November 2025)
- Mexico, 2025: 74% of electricity from fossil fuels; wind and solar 13%. (Ember, a compiler of official statistics, updated 20 May 2026; data: 2025)
Checked 2 November 2026: each number was read on its source that day.
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- System structure
- One integrated utility per island.
- Small, isolated grids with little inertia.
- Imported diesel and fuel oil; high shares of rooftop solar.
- Institutions
- Hawaii's Public Utilities Commission and State Energy Office.
- CARICOM's Energy Unit and CCREEE, the Caribbean's centre for renewable energy and efficiency.
- The Pacific Community, its centre PCREEE and the Pacific Power Association.
- IRENA's SIDS Lighthouses initiative, for small island developing states.
- Main challenges
- Volatile fuel costs.
- Stability at very high shares of inverter-based power.
- Storm resilience.
- Distinctive research questions
- How much grid-forming capacity does a grid that runs almost entirely on inverters need?
- Which mix of solar, storage and diesel holds up under fuel-price and storm risk?
- How should rooftop export tariffs work once midday solar exceeds load?
Checked 2 November 2026: each number was read on its source that day.
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- System structure
- The National Electricity Market (NEM): one wholesale market across Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
- Western Australia runs its own Wholesale Electricity Market.
- Millions of rooftop solar systems; grid-scale batteries growing fast.
- Institutions
- AEMO (Australian Energy Market Operator): independent market and system operator and system planner for the NEM and Western Australia's market.
- The Clean Energy Regulator: runs the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme for rooftop systems, which ends in 2030.
- State governments and distribution network businesses: emergency backstops that can turn rooftop solar down.
- Main challenges
- On sunny, mild days, typically in autumn and spring, rooftop solar supplies much of what customers use, so demand on the grid's large generators falls very low.
- Keeping enough essential system services as large spinning generators run less.
- Evening peaks (4 pm to 9 pm), now partly met by batteries.
- Distinctive research questions
- How can the grid stay secure when operational demand, the demand left for its generators, falls very low?
- How do home and grid-scale batteries reshape evening peaks and prices?
- Which services replace what large spinning generators gave the grid?
Verified key numbers
- Renewables made 44.3% of NEM generation in July to September 2026, a record for that quarter (41.8% a year earlier). (Australian Energy Market Operator, October 2026; data: July to September 2026)
- NEM-wide minimum operational demand (the demand left for the grid's generators after rooftop and other distributed solar) fell to an all-time low of 9,422 MW on Sunday 20 September 2026. (Australian Energy Market Operator, October 2026; data: 20 September 2026)
- Rooftop and other distributed solar averaged 3,203 MW in July to September 2026, a record for that quarter. (Australian Energy Market Operator, October 2026; data: July to September 2026)
- 4,562,198 small-scale solar systems installed across Australia, 30,917,812 kW of rated output, as of 30 September 2026 (all of Australia, not only the NEM). (Clean Energy Regulator, last updated 20 October 2026; data: 30 September 2026)
Checked 7 November 2026: each number was read on its source that day.
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Each card's focus (an editorial choice, not a property of the region), its keywords and the day its numbers were checked. The order is the cards' order, not a ranking.
Where to use them: F10 compares national energy balances; the Plains card is the real grid behind Prairie Town's data.
Sources, with their dates
Ember is cited as a compiler of official statistics.
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Queued Up: 2026 Edition, Characteristics of Power Plants Seeking Transmission Interconnection. May 2026.
What was read
1,312 GW of generation and about 749 GW of storage in the queues at the end of 2025.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration. Today in Energy, wind and solar's share of 2025 generation. 20 March 2026.
What was read
Wind plus utility-scale solar 17% of 2025 generation, 19% with small-scale solar.
- U.S. Department of Energy (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's report). DOE Releases New Report Evaluating Increase in Electricity Demand from Data Centers. 20 December 2024.
What was read
Data centers consumed about 4.4% of total U.S. electricity in 2023 (176 TWh).
- Southwest Power Pool. Fast Facts. Updated October 2026; read 7 November 2026.
What was read
Members in all or part of 17 states; ~732,086 square miles; 161 members (26 generation and transmission cooperatives, 18 municipal systems, 16 investor-owned utilities); an East and a West balancing area listed; 2025 energy production 300,382 GWh: wind 36.7%, coal 29%, natural gas 25.1%.
- Southwest Power Pool, Market Monitoring Unit. State of the Market 2025. 27 May 2026; read 7 November 2026.
What was read
P. 5: rising gas prices, load growth and resource adequacy concerns in 2025; p. 27: RTO status in 2004, the Integrated Marketplace since 1 March 2014, the footprint between MISO and ERCOT; p. 50: wind nameplate 35,934 MW at the end of 2025.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Today in Energy. PJM, ERCOT, and SWPP all set peak load records this summer. 15 October 2026.
What was read
SWPP peaked at 58.0 GW on 27 July 2026; the pre-2026 peak was 56.0 GW on 21 August 2023 (Form EIA-930, as each balancing authority reports).
- Southwest Power Pool. SPP's Response to the February 2021 Winter Weather Event (summary). Undated; read 7 November 2026.
What was read
P. 1: regional electricity use reduced by about 1.5% for 50 minutes on 15 February and about 6.5% for about three hours on 16 February, the first region-wide curtailments in SPP's history.
- Eurostat. Renewables' share of electricity consumption, 2024 (Eurostat news). 14 January 2026.
What was read
EU 47.5%; Austria 90.1%, Malta 10.7%; Sweden 88.1%, Denmark 79.7%, Finland 54.3%.
- Ember, a compiler of official statistics. European Electricity Review 2026. 22 January 2026.
What was read
Wind and solar 30% of EU electricity in 2025, fossil 29%.
- Central Statistics Office, Ireland. Data Centres Metered Electricity Consumption 2025, key findings. July 2026.
What was read
23% of metered electricity in 2025, 5% in 2015.
- National Energy Administration of China. Press release on 2025 renewable energy development. 12 February 2026.
What was read
317 GW of solar added in 2025; utilisation rate (利用率: the share of available output used rather than curtailed) 95% solar, 94% wind.
- National Energy Administration of China. Power industry statistics, January to July 2026. 11 September 2026.
What was read
Solar capacity 1,286 GW at the end of July 2026; coal 1,285 GW.
- Ember, a compiler of official statistics. China: country profile. Read 2 November 2026.
What was read
2025: fossil 58% of generation; wind and solar 22%.
- Press Information Bureau, Government of India. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, release on installed capacity (no link). 9 August 2026.
What was read
Non-fossil capacity 300.50 GW, over 54% of about 552 GW, on 31 July 2026.
- Ember, a compiler of official statistics. India: country profile. Read 2 November 2026.
What was read
2025: fossil 73%; solar 9.4%.
- Ember, a compiler of official statistics. Japan: country profile. Read 2 November 2026.
What was read
2025: fossil 67%, solar 10%, nuclear 9%.
- Ember, a compiler of official statistics. South Korea: country profile. Updated 22 April 2026.
What was read
2025: fossil 60%; wind and solar 7%.
- Statistics Norway (SSB). Highest electricity production ever (Høyeste strømproduksjon noensinne). May 2026.
What was read
2025: 161.8 TWh, hydro 89.9%, record net export 22.8 TWh.
- Ember, a compiler of official statistics. Saudi Arabia: country profile. Updated 22 April 2026; data year not stated.
What was read
Share of electricity from fossil fuels and demand against the world average, shown without a data year.
- Ember, a compiler of official statistics. United Arab Emirates: country profile. Updated 22 April 2026; data year not stated.
What was read
Share of electricity from fossil fuels and demand against the world average, shown without a data year.
- World Bank and the custodian agencies. Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report 2026 (joint release). 24 June 2026.
What was read
655 million people without electricity; over 560 million in Sub-Saharan Africa; the access figures are for 2024 ('In 2024, the global access rate stagnated at 92 per cent').
- Ember, a compiler of official statistics. South Africa: country profile. Updated 22 April 2026.
What was read
2025: 83% fossil; wind and solar 13%.
- Ember, a compiler of official statistics. Brazil: country profile. Updated 30 October 2026.
What was read
2025: hydro 52%, wind and solar 27%, clean 89%.
- Coordinador Eléctrico Nacional (CEN), Chile. Reporte Energético, December 2025 (no link). December 2025.
What was read
20,483.5 MW non-conventional renewable of 39,104.4 MW installed, November 2025.
- Ember, a compiler of official statistics. Mexico: country profile. Updated 20 May 2026.
What was read
2025: 74% fossil; wind and solar 13%.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration. State Electricity Profiles 2024: Hawaii. 10 November 2025.
What was read
Average retail price 38.00 cents/kWh, the highest of any state; U.S. average 12.94.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration. Today in Energy, average residential electricity bills in 2024. 12 May 2025.
What was read
Hawaii's average residential bill $213 a month, the highest in the U.S..
- Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). Quarterly Energy Dynamics, Q3 2026. October 2026; read 7 November 2026.
What was read
P. 3: renewables 44.3% of NEM generation (41.8% in Q3 2025); NEM-wide minimum operational demand 9,422 MW on Sunday 20 September; distributed PV a record Q3 average of 3,203 MW, operational demand falling as distributed PV grows faster than underlying demand; p. 4: grid-scale batteries 8.0% of generation in the evening peak (1600 hrs to 2100 hrs).
- Clean Energy Regulator, Australia. Small-scale installation postcode data. Last updated 20 October 2026; data current as at 30 September 2026.
What was read
Table 2: solar photovoltaic (PV) 4,562,198 installations, 30,917,812 kW rated output.
- Southwest Power Pool. RTO Expansion. Read 7 November 2026.
What was read
On 1 April 2026 SPP expanded its service territory into the Western Interconnection, to resources and customers of utilities in seven states (Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming): RTO services spanning two interconnections.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Today in Energy. Why are Midwest grid operators turning away wind power?. 26 June 2024.
What was read
Average hourly wind curtailment rose from 136 MW in 2019 to 1,097 MW in 2023 in SPP.
- Organization for Cross-regional Coordination of Transmission Operators, Japan (OCCTO). Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2022 (no link). December 2022; read 7 November 2026.
What was read
Japan is divided into 10 regional service areas; those other than Okinawa's are connected by cross-regional interconnection lines; eastern and western Japan use 50 Hz and 60 Hz.
- Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). Fact Sheet: Minimum system load (MSL). 2025; read 7 November 2026.
What was read
Low demand on sunny, mild-temperature days, typically in autumn and spring, when rooftop solar reduces the need for electricity from grid-scale generators via the transmission network, limiting access to essential system services; solar management programs run by state governments and distribution network service providers; AEMO as independent market and system operator and system planner for the NEM and Western Australia's WEM.
- Clean Energy Regulator, Australia. Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme. Last updated 29 October 2026; read 7 November 2026.
What was read
The scheme issues certificates for small-scale systems until it ends in 2030.