Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Tuesday 18 August 2020

On Tuesday 18 August, demand averaged 29.2 GW. Renewables supplied 19%.

29.2GW AVERAGEWind3.80 GW13%Hydro0.14 GW0%Biomass2.41 GW8%Solar1.82 GW6%Gas16.23 GW54%Imports2.13 GW7%Nuclear3.46 GW12%29.2GW AVERAGE13%8%54%7%12%
Price
£36.07/MWh
Day average £36.07
Demand29.2GW
Generation 27.9Transfers 1.3
Fossil fuels54%
Renewables19%
Other27%
Carbon intensityHigh
243g/kWh
0Day average 243300
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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 18 August 2020, gas supplied 54% of Great Britain’s electricity and wind 13%. Demand peaked at 36.0 GW at 12:30. Carbon intensity averaged 243 g/kWh and the price £36.07/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 5.0 GW at 14:05. Solar generation peaked at 6.0 GW at 13:00. Carbon intensity was lowest at 13:00 (212 g/kWh) and highest at 05:30 (266 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £24.81/MWh at 03:30 to £50.34/MWh at 20:30. Gas made 58% 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 1.826.1%Wind 3.8012.7%Gas 16.2354.1%Hydro 0.140.5%Biomass 2.418.0%Nuclear 3.4611.5%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 29.2avgGeneration 27.9avgTransfers 1.3avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand36.0GW · 12:30
Low 20.3 · 03:35Avg 29.20–40 GW
Made in Great Britain96%of demand
Generation 27.9Transfers 1.3 GW
Net imports35GWh
In
47 Out
13
Zero-carbon share33%of generation
Nuclear 12%Hydro 0%Wind 14%Solar 7%

Transfers · Tue 18 Aug

Interconnectors and storage

On Tuesday 18 August 2020, Great Britain imported 47 GWh and exported 13 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (31 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (5 GWh).

All interconnectors

Tue 18 Aug
Imported
47GWh
Exported
13GWh
Net in
35GWh
Average net flow
1.44GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.17GWImporting

In 7.5 GWhOut 3.3 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average1.24GWImporting

In 31.1 GWhOut 1.3 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.12GWExporting

In 2.6 GWhOut 5.5 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.15GWImporting

In 6.1 GWhOut 2.5 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.14GWPumping

Generated 3.9 GWhPumped 7.4 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.