GridSolver Map Guide
GridSolver helps you explore where distributed energy resources could help the grid. Use the map to screen areas for further analysis, not to approve a project or size equipment.
What do the four tabs show?
Section titled “What do the four tabs show?”The DER Needs theme has four tabs. Each tab answers a different question about the same area.
| Tab | Question it answers | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Load | Where could energy or flexibility help? | How peaky the area’s net load is, combined with the building stock available to host a fleet. |
| Congestion | Where is grid congestion concentrated in a few hours? | A congestion score where a wholesale market prices congestion. |
| Build | What type of resource could help here? | Resource categories based on the area’s load patterns and the seasons when peaks occur. |
| Predict | How close is next week’s forecast peak to the seasonal maximum? | Forecast severity at each node, with red points for forecasts that reach or exceed the seasonal peak. |
Flat-load areas need energy. Peaky areas need flexibility, which changes when energy is used or supplied. These are screening signals. They do not show available interconnection capacity, equipment ratings, or guaranteed project returns.
What does Build tell you?
Section titled “What does Build tell you?”Build groups areas by the type of distributed energy resource that could address their load pattern. Its colors are categories, not a ranking from bad to good.
| Color | Category | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Solar + efficiency | Demand is relatively flat; the need is clean energy. |
| Cyan | Load shifting | Demand is peaky in every season. |
| Coral | HVAC flexibility | Winter and summer peaks suggest that heating and cooling drive stress. |
| Green | Non-HVAC flexibility | Spring and fall peaks suggest options such as batteries, electric vehicles, and industrial demand response. |
| Gray | Not enough data | The map cannot assign a resource category from the available data. |
HVAC means heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Flexibility can include shifting demand or reducing demand during peak hours.
Build is not a list of utility construction projects. It does not say that a utility has approved an upgrade, that a site can interconnect, or that a particular system size is suitable. A resource category is a starting point for analysis, not a project recommendation with proven economics.
What do Load and Congestion scores mean?
Section titled “What do Load and Congestion scores mean?”Load combines net-load peakiness with the building stock available to host a fleet. A higher score indicates a stronger screening signal, not a larger equipment rating.
Congestion shows how concentrated congestion is in a few hours, where wholesale market prices provide that signal. A higher score points to areas worth examining for demand-side flexibility. It does not establish that a flexibility project costs less than a grid upgrade.
Both views use a dark-blue-to-yellow color scale from 0 to 100: weaker to stronger signal. A score of 80 does not mean that a substation is 80 percent loaded or has 80 percent spare capacity.
Gray means that the relevant data is missing or insufficient, not that the grid has no need. For example, some regions have no wholesale market that prices congestion, including parts of the vertically integrated Southeast. No congestion data does not mean no congestion.
What do Predict colors mean?
Section titled “What do Predict colors mean?”Predict colors nodes by forecast severity: how close the coming week’s forecast peak is to the node’s seasonal maximum. The scale runs from the seasonal normal toward the seasonal maximum. Red means that the forecast reaches or exceeds the seasonal peak in the next seven days.
A seasonal demand peak is not an equipment rating or a physical capacity limit. A red point does not establish an overload, an outage, or a published need for an upgrade.
Forecasts and inventory counts change. This guide does not contain a live forecast date, node count, or forecast for a specific location. Ask Aristotle for the current forecast coverage or transmission-node count to retrieve those values from GridSolver.
What does the minimum-score control change?
Section titled “What does the minimum-score control change?”The map has two independent score thresholds.
| Control | Tabs it filters | Score it uses |
|---|---|---|
| Load · Build · Predict | Load, Build, and Predict | Load score |
| Congestion | Congestion | Congestion score |
Raising the active threshold hides points below it. It does not change their underlying scores. The Predict threshold filters by load score, not forecast severity. Switching to Congestion uses its separate threshold, so the visible points can change.
Why are some points larger?
Section titled “Why are some points larger?”In the DER Needs map, point size reflects nearby commercial and industrial building footprint. It does not encode a substation’s voltage, equipment capacity, or forecast severity.
What changes in the Emissions theme?
Section titled “What changes in the Emissions theme?”Emissions is a separate theme from DER Needs. Its Marginal, Average, and Future choices show regional carbon intensity under the selected construct. The color scale represents a national percentile, from cleaner to dirtier. It is not a Load or Congestion score. Select a point to see the absolute intensity in its details panel, where available.
What can I ask the chat?
Section titled “What can I ask the chat?”- What is the difference between Load, Congestion, Build, and Predict?
- What does the Build tab tell you?
- Why does Build show different resource types in different areas?
- What do the map colors and scores mean?
- Why does a region have no congestion data?
- What does a red point in Predict mean?
- Why do points disappear when I raise the minimum score?
Selecting a point opens its details panel. The chat does not automatically receive your active tab, selected point, or filter settings. If you ask about a specific point, include its location or identifier and the tab you are viewing. Aristotle must retrieve any available location-specific measurements before reporting them; it cannot infer them from your selection.