Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Friday 7 May 2021

On Friday 7 May, demand averaged 31.9 GW. Renewables supplied 19%.

31.9GW AVERAGEWind3.17 GW10%Hydro0.28 GW1%Biomass2.68 GW8%Solar2.66 GW8%Gas15.34 GW47%Coal0.82 GW3%Imports3.58 GW11%Nuclear4.21 GW13%31.9GW AVERAGE10%8%8%47%11%13%
Price
£70.30/MWh
Day average £70.30
Demand31.9GW
Generation 29.2Transfers 2.8
Fossil fuels47%
Renewables19%
Other32%
Carbon intensityModerate
223g/kWh
0Day average 223300
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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 Friday 7 May 2021, gas supplied 47% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 13%. Demand peaked at 38.9 GW at 12:00. Carbon intensity averaged 223 g/kWh and the price £70.30/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 5.8 GW at 00:25. Solar generation peaked at 7.5 GW at 12:00. Carbon intensity was lowest at 00:00 (185 g/kWh) and highest at 21:00 (262 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £52.77/MWh at 00:00 to £102.48/MWh at 07:30. Gas made 53% 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 2.668.1%Wind 3.179.7%Gas 15.3446.8%Hydro 0.280.9%Biomass 2.688.2%Nuclear 4.2112.9%Coal 0.822.5%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 31.9avgGeneration 29.2avgTransfers 2.8avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand38.9GW · 12:00
Low 24.1 · 04:35Avg 31.90–40 GW
Made in Great Britain91%of demand
Generation 29.2Transfers 2.8 GW
Net imports69GWh
In
83 Out
14
Zero-carbon share35%of generation
Nuclear 14%Hydro 1%Wind 11%Solar 9%

Transfers · Fri 7 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Friday 7 May 2021, Great Britain imported 83 GWh and exported 14 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (57 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (14 GWh).

All interconnectors

Fri 7 May
Imported
83GWh
Exported
14GWh
Net in
69GWh
Average net flow
2.88GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.93GWImporting

In 22.3 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average2.38GWImporting

In 57.2 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.44GWExporting

In 3.7 GWhOut 14.1 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

Average0.10GWPumping

Generated 2.7 GWhPumped 5.2 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.