Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Wednesday 20 May 2020

On Wednesday 20 May, demand averaged 27.0 GW. Renewables supplied 26%.

27.0GW AVERAGEWind3.42 GW13%Hydro0.29 GW1%Biomass2.75 GW10%Solar3.20 GW12%Gas8.26 GW30%Imports3.42 GW13%Nuclear5.74 GW21%27.0GW AVERAGE13%10%12%30%13%21%
Price
£25.45/MWh
Day average £25.45
Demand27.0GW
Generation 23.7Transfers 3.3
Fossil fuels30%
Renewables26%
Other44%
Carbon intensityModerate
161g/kWh
0Day average 161300
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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 May 2020, gas supplied 30% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 21%. Demand peaked at 32.6 GW at 12:10. Carbon intensity averaged 161 g/kWh and the price £25.45/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 6.8 GW at 23:15. Solar generation peaked at 9.2 GW at 13:00. Carbon intensity was lowest at 14:00 (117 g/kWh) and highest at 00:00 (200 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £15.64/MWh at 15:00 to £33.51/MWh at 19:30. Gas made 35% of the electricity generated in Great Britain, compared with 38% across 2020.

Charts

Generation, demand, price and carbon

Generation by sourceGW · daily average below
Solar 3.2011.8%Wind 3.4212.6%Gas 8.2630.5%Hydro 0.291.1%Biomass 2.7510.2%Nuclear 5.7421.2%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 27.0avgGeneration 23.7avgTransfers 3.3avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand32.6GW · 12:10
Low 19.4 · 05:00Avg 27.00–40 GW
Made in Great Britain88%of demand
Generation 23.7Transfers 3.3 GW
Net imports79GWh
In
80 Out
1
Zero-carbon share53%of generation
Nuclear 24%Hydro 1%Wind 14%Solar 14%

Transfers · Wed 20 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Wednesday 20 May 2020, Great Britain imported 80 GWh and exported 1 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (37 GWh).

All interconnectors

Wed 20 May
Imported
80GWh
Exported
1GWh
Net in
79GWh
Average net flow
3.29GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.80GWImporting

In 19.3 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average1.55GWImporting

In 37.2 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.47GWImporting

In 11.5 GWhOut 0.3 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.47GWImporting

In 11.9 GWhOut 0.5 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.04GWGenerating

Generated 2.3 GWhPumped 1.3 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.