Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Saturday 15 May 2021

On Saturday 15 May, demand averaged 28.5 GW. Renewables supplied 16%.

28.5GW AVERAGEWind2.84 GW10%Hydro0.35 GW1%Biomass1.62 GW6%Solar1.46 GW5%Gas14.74 GW50%Coal0.55 GW2%Imports3.89 GW13%Nuclear3.74 GW13%28.5GW AVERAGE10%50%13%13%
Price
£63.52/MWh
Day average £63.52
Demand28.5GW
Generation 25.3Transfers 3.2
Fossil fuels50%
Renewables16%
Other32%
Carbon intensityHigh
228g/kWh
0Day average 228300
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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 15 May 2021, gas supplied 50% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 13%. Demand peaked at 33.9 GW at 12:30. Carbon intensity averaged 228 g/kWh and the price £63.52/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 4.0 GW at 16:30. Solar generation peaked at 4.2 GW at 12:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 15:30 (198 g/kWh) and highest at 21:00 (259 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £0.00/MWh at 00:00 to £106.01/MWh at 21:00. Gas made 58% 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 1.465.0%Wind 2.849.7%Gas 14.7450.5%Hydro 0.351.2%Biomass 1.625.6%Nuclear 3.7412.8%Coal 0.551.9%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 28.5avgGeneration 25.3avgTransfers 3.2avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand33.9GW · 12:30
Low 21.7 · 04:55Avg 28.50–40 GW
Made in Great Britain89%of demand
Generation 25.3Transfers 3.2 GW
Net imports80GWh
In
91 Out
10
Zero-carbon share33%of generation
Nuclear 15%Hydro 1%Wind 11%Solar 6%

Transfers · Sat 15 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Saturday 15 May 2021, Great Britain imported 91 GWh and exported 10 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (68 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (10 GWh).

All interconnectors

Sat 15 May
Imported
91GWh
Exported
10GWh
Net in
80GWh
Average net flow
3.35GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.92GWImporting

In 22.1 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average2.84GWImporting

In 68.1 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.41GWExporting

In 0.4 GWhOut 10.2 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.1 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.14GWPumping

Generated 2.8 GWhPumped 6.2 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.