Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Thursday 18 May 2017

On Thursday 18 May, demand averaged 30.5 GW. Renewables supplied 10%.

30.5GW AVERAGEWind1.19 GW4%Hydro0.15 GW0%Solar1.92 GW6%Gas16.01 GW51%Coal1.66 GW5%Imports2.67 GW9%Nuclear7.52 GW24%30.5GW AVERAGE51%9%24%
Price
£39.10/MWh
Day average £39.10
Demand30.5GW
Generation 28.4Transfers 2.0
Fossil fuels51%
Renewables10%
Other33%
Carbon intensity
—
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Key moments

On Thursday 18 May 2017, gas supplied 51% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 24%. Demand peaked at 36.2 GW at 17:25. The price £39.10/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 1.9 GW at 22:45. Solar generation peaked at 6.1 GW at 11:30. The wholesale price ranged from £33.85/MWh at 11:30 to £49.61/MWh at 18:00. Gas made 56% of the electricity generated in Great Britain, compared with 43% across 2017.

Charts

Generation, demand, price and carbon

Generation by sourceGW · daily average below
Solar 1.926.2%Wind 1.193.8%Gas 16.0151.5%Hydro 0.150.5%Biomass 0.000.0%Nuclear 7.5224.2%Coal 1.665.3%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 30.5avgGeneration 28.4avgTransfers 2.0avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand36.2GW · 17:25
Low 20.9 · 04:45Avg 30.50–40 GW
Made in Great Britain93%of demand
Generation 28.4Transfers 2.0 GW
Net imports56GWh
In
58 Out
2
Zero-carbon share38%of generation
Nuclear 26%Hydro 1%Wind 4%Solar 7%

Transfers · Thu 18 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Thursday 18 May 2017, Great Britain imported 58 GWh and exported 2 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (44 GWh), and the most exports went to Netherlands (1 GWh).

All interconnectors

Thu 18 May
Imported
58GWh
Exported
2GWh
Net in
56GWh
Average net flow
2.32GW 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

Average1.85GWImporting

In 44.5 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.12GWImporting

In 3.8 GWhOut 0.8 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.34GWImporting

In 9.3 GWhOut 1.2 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.30GWPumping

Generated 6.4 GWhPumped 13.6 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.