Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Wednesday 17 March 2021

On Wednesday 17 March, demand averaged 34.1 GW. Renewables supplied 28%.

34.1GW AVERAGEWind8.12 GW23%Hydro0.52 GW2%Biomass2.45 GW7%Solar1.18 GW3%Gas13.96 GW40%Coal0.31 GW1%Imports3.30 GW10%Nuclear4.88 GW14%34.1GW AVERAGE23%7%40%10%14%
Price
£56.19/MWh
Day average £56.19
Demand34.1GW
Generation 31.4Transfers 2.7
Fossil fuels40%
Renewables28%
Other31%
Carbon intensityModerate
193g/kWh
0Day average 193300
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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 17 March 2021, gas supplied 40% of Great Britain’s electricity and wind 23%. Demand peaked at 40.4 GW at 12:40. Carbon intensity averaged 193 g/kWh and the price £56.19/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 11.7 GW at 00:00. Solar generation peaked at 4.8 GW at 13:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 04:00 (123 g/kWh) and highest at 19:30 (258 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £21.13/MWh at 06:30 to £94.00/MWh at 18:30. Gas made 44% of the electricity generated in Great Britain, compared with 42% across 2021.

Charts

Generation, demand, price and carbon

Generation by sourceGW · daily average below
Solar 1.183.4%Wind 8.1223.4%Gas 13.9640.2%Hydro 0.521.5%Biomass 2.457.1%Nuclear 4.8814.1%Coal 0.310.9%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 34.1avgGeneration 31.4avgTransfers 2.7avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand40.4GW · 12:40
Low 25.3 · 03:45Avg 34.10–60 GW
Made in Great Britain92%of demand
Generation 31.4Transfers 2.7 GW
Net imports62GWh
In
74 Out
12
Zero-carbon share47%of generation
Nuclear 16%Hydro 2%Wind 26%Solar 4%

Transfers · Wed 17 Mar

Interconnectors and storage

On Wednesday 17 March 2021, Great Britain imported 74 GWh and exported 12 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (53 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (12 GWh).

All interconnectors

Wed 17 Mar
Imported
74GWh
Exported
12GWh
Net in
62GWh
Average net flow
2.57GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.88GWImporting

In 21.1 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average2.20GWImporting

In 52.8 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.51GWExporting

In 0.0 GWhOut 12.2 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

Average0.09GWGenerating

Generated 5.3 GWhPumped 3.3 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.