Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Saturday 5 December 2020

On Saturday 5 December, demand averaged 34.4 GW. Renewables supplied 20%.

34.4GW AVERAGEWind5.96 GW17%Hydro0.58 GW2%Biomass2.63 GW8%Solar0.46 GW1%Gas14.54 GW42%Coal0.43 GW1%Imports3.95 GW11%Nuclear6.47 GW18%34.4GW AVERAGE17%8%42%11%18%
Price
£43.60/MWh
Day average £43.60
Demand34.4GW
Generation 31.1Transfers 3.3
Fossil fuels42%
Renewables20%
Other37%
Carbon intensityHigh
200g/kWh
0Day average 200300
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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 Saturday 5 December 2020, gas supplied 42% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 18%. Demand peaked at 42.7 GW at 17:30. Carbon intensity averaged 200 g/kWh and the price £43.60/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 11.6 GW at 00:00. Solar generation peaked at 2.6 GW at 11:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 03:30 (94 g/kWh) and highest at 20:30 (264 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £12.32/MWh at 01:30 to £105.74/MWh at 17:00. Gas made 47% 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 0.461.3%Wind 5.9617.0%Gas 14.5441.5%Hydro 0.581.7%Biomass 2.637.5%Nuclear 6.4718.5%Coal 0.431.2%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 34.4avgGeneration 31.1avgTransfers 3.3avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand42.7GW · 17:30
Low 25.2 · 04:55Avg 34.40–60 GW
Made in Great Britain90%of demand
Generation 31.1Transfers 3.3 GW
Net imports83GWh
In
88 Out
5
Zero-carbon share43%of generation
Nuclear 21%Hydro 2%Wind 19%Solar 1%

Transfers · Sat 5 Dec

Interconnectors and storage

On Saturday 5 December 2020, Great Britain imported 88 GWh and exported 5 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (35 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (4 GWh).

All interconnectors

Sat 5 Dec
Imported
88GWh
Exported
5GWh
Net in
83GWh
Average net flow
3.47GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.85GWImporting

In 20.4 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average1.40GWImporting

In 34.9 GWhOut 1.2 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.37GWImporting

In 12.5 GWhOut 3.7 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.84GWImporting

In 20.3 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.14GWPumping

Generated 6.8 GWhPumped 10.2 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.