Eia MCP Gridsense

What eia-mcp-gridsense does

The eia-mcp-gridsense MCP server connects an MCP client to the US Energy Information Administration's Open Data API. It makes four electricity-data operations available to an agent:

• get_fuel_mix returns hourly generation grouped by fuel source for a grid region.
• get_electricity_demand returns hourly demand for a grid region.
• get_wholesale_prices returns a monthly retail price proxy for a state.
• get_co2_emissions returns annual CO2 emissions for a state's electric power sector.

This scope fits questions about regional generation composition, electricity load, state-level price trends, and power-sector emissions. The server is focused on US electricity data exposed through the EIA API rather than general energy data or arbitrary database access.

How it works

An MCP-compatible client starts the server as a local process. The server uses the configured EIA API key to request data from the EIA Open Data API, then exposes the results through the four named tools. The README provides a uvx launch command, so the client configuration runs eia-mcp-gridsense through uvx instead of requiring a separate long-running service.

The available tools divide the data by time resolution and geography. Fuel mix and demand are hourly and use grid regions. Price data is monthly and uses states, while emissions data is annual and covers the electric power sector by state. These distinctions matter when choosing a tool for an agent workflow.

Setup and configuration

Running eia-mcp-gridsense requires an EIA API key. Register for a key through the EIA Open Data registration page, then provide it as the EIA_API_KEY environment variable. The README also allows the value to be stored in a local .env file; that file should not be committed to a repository.

A Claude Desktop configuration can start the server with uvx and pass the key in the server's env block:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "eia-mcp-gridsense": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["eia-mcp-gridsense"],
      "env": {
        "EIA_API_KEY": "your-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace the placeholder with the registered key. Keep credentials outside source control.

Tools and capabilities

The eia-mcp-gridsense MCP server provides these capabilities:

• Query hourly generation by fuel source for a selected grid region.
• Query hourly electricity demand for a selected grid region.
• Retrieve monthly retail price proxy data for a selected state.
• Retrieve annual electric-power-sector CO2 emissions for a selected state.

The README identifies the data source as the EIA API and does not describe additional providers, write operations, authentication methods, or client-specific features beyond the Claude Desktop example.

Limitations and notes

An EIA API key is required, so the server cannot be configured from the documented example without that credential. The available data is limited to the four operations and geographic or time scopes described above. In particular, get_wholesale_prices is described as a monthly retail price proxy, not as a direct wholesale-market price feed. The repository excerpt does not specify response schemas, rate limits, historical coverage, or handling for invalid regions and states.