Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Tuesday 4 May 2021

On Tuesday 4 May, demand averaged 33.3 GW. Renewables supplied 53%.

33.3GW AVERAGEWind15.86 GW47%Hydro0.23 GW1%Biomass2.03 GW6%Solar1.98 GW6%Gas7.63 GW22%Imports2.06 GW6%Nuclear4.27 GW13%33.3GW AVERAGE47%22%13%
Price
£45.28/MWh
Day average £45.28
Demand33.3GW
Generation 32.0Transfers 1.3
Fossil fuels22%
Renewables53%
Other25%
Carbon intensityLow
97g/kWh
0Day average 97300
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Recorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hourRecorded half-hour

Records set on this day

All records

Key moments

On Tuesday 4 May 2021, wind supplied 47% of Great Britain’s electricity and gas 22%. Demand peaked at 40.1 GW at 12:30. Carbon intensity averaged 97 g/kWh and the price £45.28/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 18.6 GW at 07:30. Solar generation peaked at 6.3 GW at 14:00. Carbon intensity was lowest at 02:30 (59 g/kWh) and highest at 22:00 (151 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from −£42.77/MWh at 03:30 to £84.44/MWh at 21:00. The price was below zero for 4.5 hours. Wind made 50% of the electricity generated in Great Britain, compared with 25% across 2021.

Charts

Generation, demand, price and carbon

Generation by sourceGW · daily average below
Solar 1.985.8%Wind 15.8646.6%Gas 7.6322.4%Hydro 0.230.7%Biomass 2.036.0%Nuclear 4.2712.5%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 33.3avgGeneration 32.0avgTransfers 1.3avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand40.1GW · 12:30
Low 23.6 · 04:20Avg 33.30–60 GW
Made in Great Britain96%of demand
Generation 32.0Transfers 1.3 GW
Net imports37GWh
In
45 Out
8
Zero-carbon share70%of generation
Nuclear 13%Hydro 1%Wind 50%Solar 6%

Transfers · Tue 4 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Tuesday 4 May 2021, Great Britain imported 45 GWh and exported 8 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (23 GWh), and the most exports went to France (8 GWh).

All interconnectors

Tue 4 May
Imported
45GWh
Exported
8GWh
Net in
37GWh
Average net flow
1.55GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.70GWImporting

In 16.8 GWhOut 0.1 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average0.64GWImporting

In 22.9 GWhOut 7.6 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.22GWImporting

In 5.4 GWhOut 0.2 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

Average0.28GWPumping

Generated 4.2 GWhPumped 10.9 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.