elcron is a simple scheduler for executing shell commands based on electricity spot price. The application uses the Entso-e Transparency Platform to get the electricity prices for the next 24 hours and schedules the commands based on the prices.
Scheduling is configured by .elcron file. Each uncommented line in the file represents a job that will be executed when the price of electricity is above or below a certain threshold. The file is in the following format with columns separated by comma:
# This file is used to define jobs that will be executed
# when the price of electricity is above or below a certain threshold
# The file is in the following format with columns separated by comma:
# price, condition, command
# price: The price of electricity in c/kWh that will trigger the job
# condition: Can be set to above or below. The condition determines if the job will
# be triggered when the price is above or below the threshold
# command: The command that will be executed when the conditions are met
# Example:
# price, condition, command
# 5, above, echo "Price of electricity is above 5"
# 10, below, echo "Price of electricity is below 10"
To compile the application, you need to have Rust installed. You can install Rust by following the instructions on the Rust website.
git clone
cd elcron
cargo build --release
cp target/release/elcron .After the compilation is done, you need to create .env file in the root directory of the project. The file should contain the following variables:
API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
AREA=ENTSO-E_AREA_CODEYou can get the API key by registering on the Entso-e Transparency Platform and requesting an API key by email.
The area codes can be found here: Transparency Platform RESTful API - user guide
For example, the area code for Finland is: 10YFI-1--------U
Note: When the application is started for the first time, it will create a .elcron file (if it doesn't exist) in the current directory and exit.
Run the application by executing the following command:
./elcron[2024-10-12T17:55:53Z INFO elcron] The electricity price at 2024-10-12 20:55 is 0.40 c/kWh
[2024-10-12T17:55:53Z INFO elcron::elcron_parser] Activating job: Job(price_threshold=10, condition=Below, command=echo "Price of electricity is below 10")
[2024-10-12T17:55:53Z INFO elcron::elcron_parser] Output: Price of electricity is below 10
[2024-10-12T17:55:53Z INFO elcron] Sleeping until: 2024-10-12 21:00:00 +03:00
[2024-10-12T18:00:00Z INFO elcron::elcron_parser] Reading elcron file: .elcron
[2024-10-12T18:00:00Z INFO elcron::elcron_parser] Read 1 lines from elcron file
[2024-10-12T18:00:00Z INFO elcron::elcron_parser] Found 1 jobs in elcron file
[2024-10-12T18:00:00Z INFO elcron] The electricity price at 2024-10-12 21:00 is 0.19 c/kWh
[2024-10-12T18:00:00Z INFO elcron::elcron_parser] Activating job: Job(price_threshold=10, condition=Below, command=echo "Price of electricity is below 10")
[2024-10-12T18:00:00Z INFO elcron::elcron_parser] Output: Price of electricity is below 10
[2024-10-12T18:00:00Z INFO elcron] Sleeping until: 2024-10-12 22:00:00 +03:00