Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Saturday 1 May 2021

On Saturday 1 May, demand averaged 28.9 GW. Renewables supplied 12%.

28.9GW AVERAGEWind1.21 GW4%Hydro0.25 GW1%Biomass2.27 GW8%Solar2.07 GW7%Gas16.74 GW55%Coal0.13 GW0%Imports3.15 GW10%Nuclear4.37 GW14%28.9GW AVERAGE8%55%10%14%
Price
£71.39/MWh
Day average £71.39
Demand28.9GW
Generation 27.1Transfers 1.8
Fossil fuels55%
Renewables12%
Other32%
Carbon intensityHigh
237g/kWh
0Day average 237300
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Key moments

On Saturday 1 May 2021, gas supplied 55% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 14%. Demand peaked at 33.0 GW at 18:20. Carbon intensity averaged 237 g/kWh and the price £71.39/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 2.0 GW at 16:55. Solar generation peaked at 5.6 GW at 10:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 14:30 (204 g/kWh) and highest at 21:00 (274 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £50.09/MWh at 04:30 to £94.20/MWh at 21:00. Gas made 62% 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 2.076.9%Wind 1.214.0%Gas 16.7455.4%Hydro 0.250.8%Biomass 2.277.5%Nuclear 4.3714.5%Coal 0.130.4%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 28.9avgGeneration 27.1avgTransfers 1.8avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand33.0GW · 18:20
Low 22.8 · 05:20Avg 28.90–40 GW
Made in Great Britain94%of demand
Generation 27.1Transfers 1.8 GW
Net imports49GWh
In
72 Out
23
Zero-carbon share29%of generation
Nuclear 16%Hydro 1%Wind 4%Solar 8%

Transfers · Sat 1 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Saturday 1 May 2021, Great Britain imported 72 GWh and exported 23 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (48 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (23 GWh).

All interconnectors

Sat 1 May
Imported
72GWh
Exported
23GWh
Net in
49GWh
Average net flow
2.05GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average1.00GWImporting

In 24.1 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average2.00GWImporting

In 48.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.95GWExporting

In 0.0 GWhOut 22.9 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

Average0.20GWPumping

Generated 3.4 GWhPumped 8.3 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.