EIA Renewable Energy Generator Scraper

Scrape the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) operating generator inventory for solar, wind, battery storage, hydroelectric, geothermal, and other clean energy technologies. Data is sourced from EIA Form 860/860M (Annual Electric Power Industry Report and Monthly Update) via the EIA Open Data API v2.

What data does it return?

Each record covers one generator at a power plant as of a given monthly reporting period:

• Plant & Entity — plant name, plant ID, entity (utility/owner) name and ID
• Location — state, county, latitude, longitude
• Technology — Solar Photovoltaic, Onshore/Offshore Wind Turbine, Batteries, Conventional Hydroelectric, Geothermal, etc.
• Capacity — nameplate capacity (MW), net summer capacity (MW), net winter capacity (MW)
• Dates — operating start date (YYYY-MM), planned retirement date
• Status — OP (Operating), SB (Standby/Backup), OS (Out of service)
• Grid — balancing authority code and name (CAISO, PJM, ERCOT, MISO, NYISO, etc.)
• Sector — electric utility, IPP, small power producer, etc.
• Period — reporting month (YYYY-MM); defaults to latest available

Prerequisites

A free EIA API key is required for production use. Register at https://www.eia.gov/opendata/register.php. The DEMO_KEY (used when no key is provided) is limited to 5 requests per hour per IP.

Usage

Basic — solar generators in California

{
  "apiKey": "YOUR_EIA_API_KEY",
  "technologies": ["Solar Photovoltaic"],
  "states": ["CA"],
  "statuses": ["OP"],
  "maxItems": 100
}

Wind farms in Texas

{
  "apiKey": "YOUR_EIA_API_KEY",
  "technologies": ["Onshore Wind Turbine"],
  "states": ["TX"],
  "statuses": ["OP"],
  "maxItems": 500
}

All renewables nationwide (large run)

{
  "apiKey": "YOUR_EIA_API_KEY",
  "technologies": ["Solar Photovoltaic", "Onshore Wind Turbine", "Offshore Wind Turbine", "Batteries", "Conventional Hydroelectric", "Geothermal"],
  "statuses": ["OP"],
  "maxItems": 0
}

Specific reporting period

{
  "apiKey": "YOUR_EIA_API_KEY",
  "technologies": ["Solar Photovoltaic"],
  "period": "2025-12",
  "statuses": ["OP"],
  "maxItems": 1000
}

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
apiKey	String	No	DEMO_KEY	Free EIA Open Data API key
technologies	Array	No	Solar, Wind, Batteries	Technology filter. Leave empty for all.
states	Array	No	All states	Two-letter state codes (CA, TX, NY...)
statuses	Array	No	OP	OP=Operating, SB=Standby, OS=Out of service, OA=Out of service (returning)
period	String	No	Latest	Reporting period in YYYY-MM format
maxItems	Integer	No	10	Max records. 0 = no limit

Output sample

{
  "generator_id": "10437-SUN2",
  "plant_id": "10437",
  "plant_name": "Sunray 2",
  "entity_id": "60246",
  "entity_name": "Sunray Energy 2, LLC",
  "state_code": "CA",
  "state_name": "California",
  "county": "San Bernardino",
  "technology": "Solar Photovoltaic",
  "fuel_type": "SUN",
  "fuel_description": "Solar",
  "prime_mover": "PV",
  "nameplate_capacity_mw": 20,
  "net_summer_capacity_mw": 20,
  "net_winter_capacity_mw": 18.5,
  "operating_date": "2017-06",
  "planned_retirement_date": null,
  "status_code": "OP",
  "status_description": "Operating",
  "balancing_authority_code": "CISO",
  "balancing_authority_name": "California Independent System Operator",
  "latitude": 34.863356,
  "longitude": -116.827627,
  "period": "2026-02",
  "sector": "ipp-non-chp",
  "sector_name": "IPP Non-CHP"
}

Data source

• EIA Open Data API v2 — https://api.eia.gov/v2/electricity/operating-generator-capacity/
• EIA Form 860 — Annual Electric Power Industry Report (operating generators)
• EIA Form 860M — Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (monthly updates)
• Coverage: All US states and territories, 2008-present, monthly updates
• Dataset size: ~4.7M records total across all technologies and periods

Notes

• The EIA dataset covers operating generators (already built and in service). It does not include projects in the interconnection queue or under construction.
• Monthly data is typically published with a 2-3 month lag. The latest available period is returned by default.
• For large runs (all renewables, no state filter), set maxItems: 0 and ensure your API key has sufficient rate-limit headroom.