Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Saturday 8 May 2021

On Saturday 8 May, demand averaged 29.3 GW. Renewables supplied 41%.

29.3GW AVERAGEWind11.19 GW38%Hydro0.27 GW1%Biomass1.54 GW5%Solar0.55 GW2%Gas7.49 GW25%Coal0.31 GW1%Imports3.87 GW13%Nuclear4.32 GW15%29.3GW AVERAGE38%25%13%15%
Price
£78.13/MWh
Day average £78.13
Demand29.3GW
Generation 25.7Transfers 3.7
Fossil fuels25%
Renewables41%
Other33%
Carbon intensityLow
126g/kWh
0Day average 126300
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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 Saturday 8 May 2021, wind supplied 38% of Great Britain’s electricity and gas 25%. Demand peaked at 35.1 GW at 12:15. Carbon intensity averaged 126 g/kWh and the price £78.13/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 17.0 GW at 11:35. Solar generation peaked at 1.7 GW at 15:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 10:30 (90 g/kWh) and highest at 00:00 (214 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £60.63/MWh at 06:00 to £91.35/MWh at 17:00. Wind made 44% 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 0.551.9%Wind 11.1937.9%Gas 7.4925.4%Hydro 0.270.9%Biomass 1.545.2%Nuclear 4.3214.6%Coal 0.311.0%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 29.3avgGeneration 25.7avgTransfers 3.7avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand35.1GW · 12:15
Low 22.3 · 05:40Avg 29.30–40 GW
Made in Great Britain87%of demand
Generation 25.7Transfers 3.7 GW
Net imports86GWh
In
87 Out
1
Zero-carbon share64%of generation
Nuclear 17%Hydro 1%Wind 44%Solar 2%

Transfers · Sat 8 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Saturday 8 May 2021, Great Britain imported 87 GWh and exported 1 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (58 GWh).

All interconnectors

Sat 8 May
Imported
87GWh
Exported
1GWh
Net in
86GWh
Average net flow
3.60GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.82GWImporting

In 19.6 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average2.43GWImporting

In 58.3 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.35GWImporting

In 9.5 GWhOut 1.0 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

Average0.07GWGenerating

Generated 5.4 GWhPumped 3.7 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.