When you select your location, either by clicking on the map or by entering a post code, the outline of the electricity supply area fed from your local major substation is drawn. All of the data held and all of the analysis done in the Carbon Tracer App is for this “BSP” substation. BSP stands for Bulk Supply Point and we have some 270 of these across the National Grid area. Any customers inside this same area polygon will get identical results from the Carbon Tracer App. The location of the BSP is positioned on the map and represented in the key with a round, purple transformer icon.
We choose to use the BSP to do our analysis as this is a meaningful level to do it at. There is usually sufficient local generation attached at this level to give workable results without the amount of data needed to give the results being unworkable within the App itself.
The BSPs are classified broadly into four categories: Urban, Rural, Mixed (partly Urban, partly Rural) and Midday. The latter are slightly unusual as their peak demand is dominated by light industry and occurs around midday. Most other locations have a peak demand in the evening.
BSPs vary greatly in size with some of the rural locations extending over much of a county, while in city locations a BSP may just supply a city district. Larger rural BSPs can have more renewable generation as there is more room for wind farms and solar parks in the countryside.