Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Wednesday 20 December 2017

On Wednesday 20 December, demand averaged 38.9 GW. Renewables supplied 12%.

38.9GW AVERAGEWind4.07 GW10%Hydro0.61 GW2%Biomass1.64 GW4%Solar0.19 GW0%Gas19.64 GW49%Coal5.77 GW14%Imports1.77 GW4%Nuclear6.80 GW17%38.9GW AVERAGE10%49%14%17%
Price
£58.71/MWh
Day average £58.71
Demand38.9GW
Generation 38.7Transfers 0.2
Fossil fuels49%
Renewables12%
Other25%
Carbon intensityVery high
380g/kWh
0Day average 380300
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Recorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hour

Key moments

On Wednesday 20 December 2017, gas supplied 49% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 17%. Demand peaked at 47.5 GW at 17:20. Carbon intensity averaged 380 g/kWh and the price £58.71/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 7.0 GW at 00:15. Solar generation peaked at 1.4 GW at 11:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 00:00 (277 g/kWh) and highest at 14:00 (433 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £32.77/MWh at 00:00 to £74.71/MWh at 13:00. Gas made 51% 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 0.190.5%Wind 4.0710.1%Gas 19.6448.5%Hydro 0.611.5%Biomass 1.644.0%Nuclear 6.8016.8%Coal 5.7714.2%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 38.9avgGeneration 38.7avgTransfers 0.2avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand47.5GW · 17:20
Low 28.0 · 04:25Avg 38.90–60 GW
Made in Great Britain99%of demand
Generation 38.7Transfers 0.2 GW
Net imports4GWh
In
32 Out
28
Zero-carbon share30%of generation
Nuclear 18%Hydro 2%Wind 11%Solar 0%

Transfers · Wed 20 Dec

Interconnectors and storage

On Wednesday 20 December 2017, Great Britain imported 32 GWh and exported 28 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from Netherlands (14 GWh), and the most exports went to France (13 GWh).

All interconnectors

Wed 20 Dec
Imported
32GWh
Exported
28GWh
Net in
4GWh
Average net flow
0.18GW 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

Average0.06GWImporting

In 13.9 GWhOut 12.5 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.30GWExporting

In 4.2 GWhOut 11.3 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.41GWImporting

In 14.3 GWhOut 4.4 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.04GWGenerating

Generated 10.0 GWhPumped 9.1 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.