Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Thursday 20 May 2021

On Thursday 20 May, demand averaged 32.1 GW. Renewables supplied 39%.

32.1GW AVERAGEWind11.22 GW35%Hydro0.25 GW1%Biomass2.33 GW7%Solar0.96 GW3%Gas9.93 GW31%Imports3.31 GW10%Nuclear4.24 GW13%32.1GW AVERAGE35%7%31%10%13%
Price
£65.05/MWh
Day average £65.05
Demand32.1GW
Generation 28.9Transfers 3.2
Fossil fuels31%
Renewables39%
Other31%
Carbon intensityLow
142g/kWh
0Day average 142300
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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 Thursday 20 May 2021, wind supplied 35% of Great Britain’s electricity and gas 31%. Demand peaked at 38.5 GW at 17:20. Carbon intensity averaged 142 g/kWh and the price £65.05/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 17.9 GW at 18:40. Solar generation peaked at 2.7 GW at 14:00. Carbon intensity was lowest at 22:30 (58 g/kWh) and highest at 05:30 (222 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £5.70/MWh at 23:30 to £82.87/MWh at 08:30. Wind made 39% 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 0.963.0%Wind 11.2234.8%Gas 9.9330.8%Hydro 0.250.8%Biomass 2.337.2%Nuclear 4.2413.1%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 32.1avgGeneration 28.9avgTransfers 3.2avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand38.5GW · 17:20
Low 22.2 · 04:55Avg 32.10–40 GW
Made in Great Britain90%of demand
Generation 28.9Transfers 3.2 GW
Net imports75GWh
In
75 Out
1
Zero-carbon share58%of generation
Nuclear 15%Hydro 1%Wind 39%Solar 3%

Transfers · Thu 20 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Thursday 20 May 2021, Great Britain imported 75 GWh and exported 1 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (49 GWh).

All interconnectors

Thu 20 May
Imported
75GWh
Exported
1GWh
Net in
75GWh
Average net flow
3.11GW 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

Average2.03GWImporting

In 48.8 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.25GWImporting

In 6.9 GWhOut 0.8 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

Average0.09GWGenerating

Generated 4.1 GWhPumped 1.9 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.