Does EIA publish the location of electric power plants, transmission lines, and substations?
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) interactive U.S. Energy Mapping System includes the location of U.S. electric
- power plants with a combined nameplate capacity of 1 megawatt (MW) or more that are operating, on standby, or on short-term or long-term out of service.
- transmission lines with voltages varying from 69 kilovolts (kV) to 765 kV.
- substations with equipment that switch, transform, or regulate electric voltage, and taps—a location where power on a transmission line is tapped by another transmission line.
The map layer information page includes a link to the shapefile for the power plants layer, which includes a database file (DBF) with the latitude and longitude for each plant. EIA does not provide the shapefile or the specific locations of transmission lines and substations, but it does provide a link to the source of the shapefiles for those layers.
The street address and the latitude and longitude of U.S. power plants are in the "PlantYyy" file of the survey Form EIA-860 database, and the state, county, latitude, and longitude of U.S. power plants are in the EIA-860M data files. EIA's Application Programming Interface (API) also contains the latitude and longitude of power plants. You must register and receive an API key to access that API series.
EIA cooperates with Canada and Mexico in publishing a North American (energy) infrastructure map, with information for Canada, Mexico, and the United States including the location of
- electric power plants with an electricity generating capacity of at least 100 MW.
- renewable energy electric power plants with an electricity generating capacity of at least 1 MW.
- the international border crossing locations of electric transmission lines.
The map data includes Excel files and shapefiles that include the latitude and longitude of the power plants and transmission line border crossings. EIA does not have specific geographic information on the location of electric power plants and transmission lines in any other countries.
Last updated: January 31, 2018
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