Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Wednesday 30 December 2020

On Wednesday 30 December, demand averaged 34.5 GW. Renewables supplied 15%.

34.5GW AVERAGEWind4.34 GW12%Hydro0.62 GW2%Biomass3.02 GW9%Solar0.36 GW1%Gas16.95 GW48%Coal0.84 GW2%Imports3.09 GW9%Nuclear5.97 GW17%34.5GW AVERAGE12%9%48%9%17%
Price
£71.60/MWh
Day average £71.60
Demand34.5GW
Generation 32.1Transfers 2.4
Fossil fuels48%
Renewables15%
Other34%
Carbon intensityHigh
228g/kWh
0Day average 228300
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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 30 December 2020, gas supplied 48% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 17%. Demand peaked at 43.5 GW at 17:30. Carbon intensity averaged 228 g/kWh and the price £71.60/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 6.2 GW at 01:40. Solar generation peaked at 1.9 GW at 10:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 01:00 (164 g/kWh) and highest at 18:30 (281 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £52.05/MWh at 23:00 to £145.97/MWh at 17:30. Gas made 53% 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 0.361.0%Wind 4.3412.3%Gas 16.9548.2%Hydro 0.621.8%Biomass 3.028.6%Nuclear 5.9717.0%Coal 0.842.4%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 34.5avgGeneration 32.1avgTransfers 2.4avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand43.5GW · 17:30
Low 25.1 · 04:20Avg 34.50–60 GW
Made in Great Britain93%of demand
Generation 32.1Transfers 2.4 GW
Net imports62GWh
In
69 Out
7
Zero-carbon share35%of generation
Nuclear 19%Hydro 2%Wind 14%Solar 1%

Transfers · Wed 30 Dec

Interconnectors and storage

On Wednesday 30 December 2020, Great Britain imported 69 GWh and exported 7 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (47 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (7 GWh).

All interconnectors

Wed 30 Dec
Imported
69GWh
Exported
7GWh
Net in
62GWh
Average net flow
2.59GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.90GWImporting

In 21.7 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average1.97GWImporting

In 47.2 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.28GWExporting

In 0.2 GWhOut 6.9 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

Average0.15GWPumping

Generated 4.9 GWhPumped 8.5 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.