Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Tuesday 8 May 2018

On Tuesday 8 May, demand averaged 31.6 GW. Renewables supplied 19%.

31.6GW AVERAGEWind3.55 GW11%Hydro0.37 GW1%Biomass1.75 GW5%Solar2.34 GW7%Gas13.27 GW41%Coal0.29 GW1%Imports3.14 GW10%Nuclear7.40 GW23%31.6GW AVERAGE11%7%41%10%23%
Price
£49.91/MWh
Day average £49.91
Demand31.6GW
Generation 29.0Transfers 2.6
Fossil fuels41%
Renewables19%
Other38%
Carbon intensityModerate
224g/kWh
0Day average 224300
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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 Tuesday 8 May 2018, gas supplied 41% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 23%. Demand peaked at 38.5 GW at 12:00. Carbon intensity averaged 224 g/kWh and the price £49.91/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 5.4 GW at 16:20. Solar generation peaked at 7.6 GW at 12:00. Carbon intensity was lowest at 12:00 (192 g/kWh) and highest at 19:30 (249 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £37.87/MWh at 05:30 to £66.68/MWh at 20:00. Gas made 46% of the electricity generated in Great Britain, compared with 42% across 2018.

Charts

Generation, demand, price and carbon

Generation by sourceGW · daily average below
Solar 2.347.3%Wind 3.5511.0%Gas 13.2741.3%Hydro 0.371.1%Biomass 1.755.4%Nuclear 7.4023.1%Coal 0.290.9%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 31.6avgGeneration 29.0avgTransfers 2.6avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand38.5GW · 12:00
Low 21.5 · 03:50Avg 31.60–40 GW
Made in Great Britain92%of demand
Generation 29.0Transfers 2.6 GW
Net imports66GWh
In
70 Out
4
Zero-carbon share47%of generation
Nuclear 26%Hydro 1%Wind 12%Solar 8%

Transfers · Tue 8 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Tuesday 8 May 2018, Great Britain imported 70 GWh and exported 4 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (46 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (4 GWh).

All interconnectors

Tue 8 May
Imported
70GWh
Exported
4GWh
Net in
66GWh
Average net flow
2.73GW 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

Average1.92GWImporting

In 46.1 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.09GWExporting

In 1.7 GWhOut 4.0 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.91GWImporting

In 21.7 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.12GWPumping

Generated 5.8 GWhPumped 8.6 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.