Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Wednesday 16 December 2020

On Wednesday 16 December, demand averaged 36.8 GW. Renewables supplied 40%.

36.8GW AVERAGEWind14.22 GW38%Hydro0.55 GW1%Biomass2.32 GW6%Solar0.20 GW1%Gas10.52 GW28%Coal0.64 GW2%Imports2.53 GW7%Nuclear6.36 GW17%36.8GW AVERAGE38%28%17%
Price
£47.66/MWh
Day average £47.66
Demand36.8GW
Generation 34.8Transfers 2.0
Fossil fuels28%
Renewables40%
Other30%
Carbon intensityModerate
150g/kWh
0Day average 150300
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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 16 December 2020, wind supplied 38% of Great Britain’s electricity and gas 28%. Demand peaked at 46.3 GW at 17:00. Carbon intensity averaged 150 g/kWh and the price £47.66/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 16.2 GW at 12:30. Solar generation peaked at 1.4 GW at 10:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 02:00 (94 g/kWh) and highest at 15:00 (186 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £12.50/MWh at 05:00 to £69.42/MWh at 17:00. Wind made 41% of the electricity generated in Great Britain, compared with 27% across 2020.

Charts

Generation, demand, price and carbon

Generation by sourceGW · daily average below
Solar 0.200.5%Wind 14.2238.1%Gas 10.5228.2%Hydro 0.551.5%Biomass 2.326.2%Nuclear 6.3617.0%Coal 0.641.7%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 36.8avgGeneration 34.8avgTransfers 2.0avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand46.3GW · 17:00
Low 25.3 · 04:00Avg 36.80–60 GW
Made in Great Britain94%of demand
Generation 34.8Transfers 2.0 GW
Net imports51GWh
In
55 Out
4
Zero-carbon share61%of generation
Nuclear 18%Hydro 2%Wind 41%Solar 1%

Transfers · Wed 16 Dec

Interconnectors and storage

On Wednesday 16 December 2020, Great Britain imported 55 GWh and exported 4 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (30 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (3 GWh).

All interconnectors

Wed 16 Dec
Imported
55GWh
Exported
4GWh
Net in
51GWh
Average net flow
2.13GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.67GWImporting

In 16.5 GWhOut 0.4 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average1.21GWImporting

In 30.2 GWhOut 1.2 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.25GWImporting

In 8.7 GWhOut 2.8 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.10GWPumping

Generated 5.2 GWhPumped 7.6 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.