Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Thursday 31 May 2018

On Thursday 31 May, demand averaged 31.2 GW. Renewables supplied 8%.

31.2GW AVERAGEWind0.98 GW3%Hydro0.21 GW1%Biomass2.01 GW6%Solar1.53 GW5%Gas16.54 GW52%Coal0.46 GW1%Imports2.71 GW8%Nuclear7.67 GW24%31.2GW AVERAGE52%8%24%
Price
£63.50/MWh
Day average £63.50
Demand31.2GW
Generation 29.4Transfers 1.8
Fossil fuels52%
Renewables8%
Other39%
Carbon intensityHigh
280g/kWh
0Day average 280300
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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 Thursday 31 May 2018, gas supplied 52% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 24%. Demand peaked at 36.9 GW at 17:20. Carbon intensity averaged 280 g/kWh and the price £63.50/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 1.5 GW at 09:05. Solar generation peaked at 4.4 GW at 13:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 01:00 (246 g/kWh) and highest at 10:30 (302 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £49.21/MWh at 07:00 to £90.17/MWh at 09:00. Gas made 56% 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 1.534.8%Wind 0.983.1%Gas 16.5451.5%Hydro 0.210.7%Biomass 2.016.3%Nuclear 7.6723.9%Coal 0.461.4%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 31.2avgGeneration 29.4avgTransfers 1.8avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand36.9GW · 17:20
Low 21.8 · 04:50Avg 31.20–40 GW
Made in Great Britain94%of demand
Generation 29.4Transfers 1.8 GW
Net imports46GWh
In
58 Out
12
Zero-carbon share35%of generation
Nuclear 26%Hydro 1%Wind 3%Solar 5%

Transfers · Thu 31 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Thursday 31 May 2018, Great Britain imported 58 GWh and exported 12 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (46 GWh), and the most exports went to Netherlands (9 GWh).

All interconnectors

Thu 31 May
Imported
58GWh
Exported
12GWh
Net in
46GWh
Average net flow
1.92GW 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

Average0.14GWImporting

In 6.3 GWhOut 2.9 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.12GWExporting

In 6.0 GWhOut 9.0 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.09GWPumping

Generated 7.1 GWhPumped 9.3 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.