Using APIs to collect data
API stands for Application Programming Interface, and these allow us to interface between two different software applications. For example, we can use Python with requests
to collect data from MISO directly.
We can also simply use our web browser. MISO's APIs are listed on their site here: https://www.misoenergy.org/markets-and-operations/RTDataAPIs/. If we click the link for the Day Ahead Wind Forecast, we are taken to another page with JSON data that looks like this:
{"MktDay":"02-06-2021","RefId":"06-Feb-2021 - Interval 22:00 EST","Forecast":[{"DateTimeEST":"2021-02-06 12:00:00 AM","HourEndingEST":"1","Value":"12764.00"},...DateTimeEST":"2021-02-07 11:00:00 PM","HourEndingEST":"24","Value":"2079.00"}]}
The ...
in the middle of the JSON data signifies that there is more data...