Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Friday 18 December 2020

On Friday 18 December, demand averaged 35.0 GW. Renewables supplied 48%.

35.0GW AVERAGEWind16.12 GW45%Hydro0.84 GW2%Biomass1.66 GW5%Solar0.06 GW0%Gas7.52 GW21%Coal0.59 GW2%Imports2.76 GW8%Nuclear5.95 GW17%35.0GW AVERAGE45%21%8%17%
Price
£42.37/MWh
Day average £42.37
Demand35.0GW
Generation 32.7Transfers 2.2
Fossil fuels21%
Renewables48%
Other29%
Carbon intensityLow
122g/kWh
0Day average 122300
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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 Friday 18 December 2020, wind supplied 45% of Great Britain’s electricity and gas 21%. Demand peaked at 42.9 GW at 16:50. Carbon intensity averaged 122 g/kWh and the price £42.37/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 18.5 GW at 13:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 02:30 (62 g/kWh) and highest at 09:00 (159 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £5.95/MWh at 03:30 to £62.76/MWh at 17:00. Wind made 49% 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 0.060.2%Wind 16.1245.4%Gas 7.5221.2%Hydro 0.842.4%Biomass 1.664.7%Nuclear 5.9516.8%Coal 0.591.7%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 35.0avgGeneration 32.7avgTransfers 2.2avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand42.9GW · 16:50
Low 24.3 · 04:00Avg 35.00–60 GW
Made in Great Britain94%of demand
Generation 32.7Transfers 2.2 GW
Net imports55GWh
In
58 Out
3
Zero-carbon share70%of generation
Nuclear 18%Hydro 3%Wind 49%Solar 0%

Transfers · Fri 18 Dec

Interconnectors and storage

On Friday 18 December 2020, Great Britain imported 58 GWh and exported 3 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (31 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (2 GWh).

All interconnectors

Fri 18 Dec
Imported
58GWh
Exported
3GWh
Net in
55GWh
Average net flow
2.31GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.78GWImporting

In 18.8 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average1.23GWImporting

In 30.6 GWhOut 1.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.30GWImporting

In 8.9 GWhOut 1.8 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

Average0.06GWPumping

Generated 8.1 GWhPumped 9.6 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.