Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Tuesday 22 December 2020

On Tuesday 22 December, demand averaged 34.4 GW. Renewables supplied 17%.

34.4GW AVERAGEWind5.09 GW14%Hydro0.87 GW2%Biomass2.36 GW7%Solar0.19 GW1%Gas16.11 GW46%Coal1.52 GW4%Imports3.02 GW9%Nuclear6.21 GW18%34.4GW AVERAGE14%46%9%18%
Price
£42.00/MWh
Day average £42.00
Demand34.4GW
Generation 32.4Transfers 2.1
Fossil fuels46%
Renewables17%
Other33%
Carbon intensityHigh
229g/kWh
0Day average 229300
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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 22 December 2020, gas supplied 46% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 18%. Demand peaked at 43.5 GW at 17:00. Carbon intensity averaged 229 g/kWh and the price £42.00/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 12.5 GW at 00:00. Solar generation peaked at 1.2 GW at 11:00. Carbon intensity was lowest at 00:30 (91 g/kWh) and highest at 14:00 (307 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £10.84/MWh at 03:00 to £73.99/MWh at 17:00. Gas made 50% 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 0.190.5%Wind 5.0914.4%Gas 16.1145.5%Hydro 0.872.4%Biomass 2.366.7%Nuclear 6.2117.6%Coal 1.524.3%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 34.4avgGeneration 32.4avgTransfers 2.1avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand43.5GW · 17:00
Low 24.1 · 04:10Avg 34.40–60 GW
Made in Great Britain94%of demand
Generation 32.4Transfers 2.1 GW
Net imports53GWh
In
66 Out
13
Zero-carbon share38%of generation
Nuclear 19%Hydro 3%Wind 16%Solar 1%

Transfers · Tue 22 Dec

Interconnectors and storage

On Tuesday 22 December 2020, Great Britain imported 66 GWh and exported 13 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (46 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (13 GWh).

All interconnectors

Tue 22 Dec
Imported
66GWh
Exported
13GWh
Net in
53GWh
Average net flow
2.20GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.84GWImporting

In 20.2 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average1.90GWImporting

In 45.7 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.55GWExporting

In 0.2 GWhOut 13.4 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

Average0.12GWPumping

Generated 6.3 GWhPumped 9.2 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.