Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Wednesday 18 May 2016

On Wednesday 18 May, demand averaged 30.6 GW. Renewables supplied 12%.

30.6GW AVERAGEWind2.47 GW8%Hydro0.21 GW1%Solar1.16 GW4%Gas15.76 GW51%Coal1.69 GW5%Imports3.31 GW11%Nuclear6.50 GW21%30.6GW AVERAGE8%51%11%21%
Price
—/MWh
Demand30.6GW
Generation 27.8Transfers 2.8
Fossil fuels51%
Renewables12%
Other32%
Carbon intensity
—
Save as image
Recorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hour

Key moments

On Wednesday 18 May 2016, gas supplied 51% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 21%. Demand peaked at 37.2 GW at 12:15. Wind generation peaked at 3.9 GW at 00:25. Solar generation peaked at 3.4 GW at 13:30. Gas made 57% of the electricity generated in Great Britain, compared with 45% across 2016.

Charts

Generation, demand, price and carbon

Generation by sourceGW · daily average below
Solar 1.163.7%Wind 2.478.0%Gas 15.7650.7%Hydro 0.210.7%Biomass 0.000.0%Nuclear 6.5020.9%Coal 1.695.4%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 30.6avgGeneration 27.8avgTransfers 2.8avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand37.2GW · 12:15
Low 20.3 · 02:55Avg 30.60–40 GW
Made in Great Britain91%of demand
Generation 27.8Transfers 2.8 GW
Net imports70GWh
In
72 Out
2
Zero-carbon share37%of generation
Nuclear 23%Hydro 1%Wind 9%Solar 4%

Transfers · Wed 18 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Wednesday 18 May 2016, Great Britain imported 72 GWh and exported 2 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (46 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (2 GWh).

All interconnectors

Wed 18 May
Imported
72GWh
Exported
2GWh
Net in
70GWh
Average net flow
2.92GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average1.91GWImporting

In 45.7 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.05GWImporting

In 3.6 GWhOut 2.3 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.96GWImporting

In 23.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.08GWPumping

Generated 7.2 GWhPumped 9.2 GWh

All cards share one scale, so you can compare their heights. Each country can have more than one cable.

Download the 5-minute data for this day: CSV · JSON. See what the figures mean.