Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Thursday 20 December 2018

On Thursday 20 December, demand averaged 37.7 GW. Renewables supplied 27%.

37.7GW AVERAGEWind9.17 GW24%Hydro0.66 GW2%Biomass2.54 GW7%Solar0.38 GW1%Gas14.30 GW37%Coal1.62 GW4%Imports3.39 GW9%Nuclear6.11 GW16%37.7GW AVERAGE24%37%9%16%
Price
£66.70/MWh
Day average £66.70
Demand37.7GW
Generation 34.8Transfers 2.9
Fossil fuels37%
Renewables27%
Other32%
Carbon intensityModerate
234g/kWh
0Day average 234300
Save as image
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 20 December 2018, gas supplied 37% of Great Britain’s electricity and wind 24%. Demand peaked at 45.8 GW at 17:15. Carbon intensity averaged 234 g/kWh and the price £66.70/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 10.8 GW at 18:40. Solar generation peaked at 2.3 GW at 11:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 00:00 (179 g/kWh) and highest at 08:00 (274 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £56.20/MWh at 12:30 to £88.20/MWh at 17:30. Gas made 41% 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 0.381.0%Wind 9.1724.0%Gas 14.3037.5%Hydro 0.661.7%Biomass 2.546.6%Nuclear 6.1116.0%Coal 1.624.3%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 37.7avgGeneration 34.8avgTransfers 2.9avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand45.8GW · 17:15
Low 26.8 · 04:15Avg 37.70–60 GW
Made in Great Britain92%of demand
Generation 34.8Transfers 2.9 GW
Net imports69GWh
In
76 Out
6
Zero-carbon share47%of generation
Nuclear 18%Hydro 2%Wind 26%Solar 1%

Transfers · Thu 20 Dec

Interconnectors and storage

On Thursday 20 December 2018, Great Britain imported 76 GWh and exported 6 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (45 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (6 GWh).

All interconnectors

Thu 20 Dec
Imported
76GWh
Exported
6GWh
Net in
69GWh
Average net flow
2.89GW 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

Average1.87GWImporting

In 44.9 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.09GWImporting

In 8.5 GWhOut 6.4 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.94GWImporting

In 22.5 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.02GWGenerating

Generated 5.6 GWhPumped 5.2 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.