Why megawatt-hours rather than megawatts?

Because this is a daily balance. Megawatts measure power at an instant; megawatt-hours measure the energy delivered over a period, which is the right unit for asking what the country actually ran on yesterday.

What is thermal solar?

Concentrated solar power: mirrors focus sunlight to heat a fluid and drive a turbine. Spain built a great deal of it and it behaves differently from photovoltaic panels, because the stored heat lets it keep generating after sunset.

Yes. It comes from Red Eléctrica's public API, 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.

Spain's Balance Screensaver

The Spain's Balance screensaver shows where Spain's electricity came from over the last full day, source by source, in megawatt-hours from the national grid operator. It runs in the browser with nothing to install; press ESC to exit.

How the Spain's Balance screensaver works

The saver reads Red Eléctrica's public API, 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 source gets a bar, renewables in green tones and the rest in grey and orange. Solar photovoltaic is usually the largest single renewable line by a distance — Spain gets more sun than anywhere else in Europe and has built accordingly. Figures are energy over the day rather than instantaneous power, so this is a balance sheet rather than a snapshot.

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 megawatt-hours rather than megawatts?: Because this is a daily balance. Megawatts measure power at an instant; megawatt-hours measure the energy delivered over a period, which is the right unit for asking what the country actually ran on yesterday.
What is thermal solar?: Concentrated solar power: mirrors focus sunlight to heat a fluid and drive a turbine. Spain built a great deal of it and it behaves differently from photovoltaic panels, because the stored heat lets it keep generating after sunset.
Is this real data?: Yes. It comes from Red Eléctrica's public API, 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.

← All Weather & Climate screensavers