Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Monday 17 May 2021

On Monday 17 May, demand averaged 30.9 GW. Renewables supplied 15%.

30.9GW AVERAGEWind2.67 GW8%Hydro0.31 GW1%Biomass2.25 GW7%Solar1.91 GW6%Gas16.10 GW50%Coal0.64 GW2%Imports3.73 GW12%Nuclear4.27 GW13%30.9GW AVERAGE8%7%50%12%13%
Price
£84.57/MWh
Day average £84.57
Demand30.9GW
Generation 28.2Transfers 2.8
Fossil fuels50%
Renewables15%
Other32%
Carbon intensityHigh
231g/kWh
0Day average 231300
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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 Monday 17 May 2021, gas supplied 50% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 13%. Demand peaked at 37.7 GW at 12:05. Carbon intensity averaged 231 g/kWh and the price £84.57/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 4.0 GW at 16:15. Solar generation peaked at 5.6 GW at 14:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 04:30 (210 g/kWh) and highest at 21:00 (262 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £56.81/MWh at 05:30 to £107.83/MWh at 10:30. Gas made 57% 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 1.916.0%Wind 2.678.4%Gas 16.1050.5%Hydro 0.311.0%Biomass 2.257.1%Nuclear 4.2713.4%Coal 0.642.0%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 30.9avgGeneration 28.2avgTransfers 2.8avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand37.7GW · 12:05
Low 21.5 · 04:10Avg 30.90–40 GW
Made in Great Britain91%of demand
Generation 28.2Transfers 2.8 GW
Net imports69GWh
In
85 Out
16
Zero-carbon share33%of generation
Nuclear 15%Hydro 1%Wind 9%Solar 7%

Transfers · Mon 17 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Monday 17 May 2021, Great Britain imported 85 GWh and exported 16 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (61 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (16 GWh).

All interconnectors

Mon 17 May
Imported
85GWh
Exported
16GWh
Net in
69GWh
Average net flow
2.86GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.98GWImporting

In 23.6 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average2.55GWImporting

In 61.2 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.67GWExporting

In 0.0 GWhOut 16.2 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

Average0.08GWPumping

Generated 4.7 GWhPumped 6.5 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.