Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Friday 21 May 2021

On Friday 21 May, demand averaged 32.2 GW. Renewables supplied 55%.

32.2GW AVERAGEWind16.79 GW51%Hydro0.25 GW1%Biomass1.22 GW4%Solar0.98 GW3%Gas7.07 GW21%Imports2.34 GW7%Nuclear4.40 GW13%32.2GW AVERAGE51%21%7%13%
Price
£51.48/MWh
Day average £51.48
Demand32.2GW
Generation 30.7Transfers 1.5
Fossil fuels21%
Renewables55%
Other24%
Carbon intensityLow
90g/kWh
0Day average 90300
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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 21 May 2021, wind supplied 51% of Great Britain’s electricity and gas 21%. Demand peaked at 38.4 GW at 12:10. Carbon intensity averaged 90 g/kWh and the price £51.48/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 18.5 GW at 16:15. Solar generation peaked at 3.0 GW at 12:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 03:00 (61 g/kWh) and highest at 08:00 (107 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from −£42.92/MWh at 00:30 to £89.09/MWh at 09:00. The price was below zero for 5.5 hours. Wind made 55% 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 0.983.0%Wind 16.7950.8%Gas 7.0721.4%Hydro 0.250.8%Biomass 1.223.7%Nuclear 4.4013.3%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 32.2avgGeneration 30.7avgTransfers 1.5avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand38.4GW · 12:10
Low 23.6 · 04:15Avg 32.20–40 GW
Made in Great Britain95%of demand
Generation 30.7Transfers 1.5 GW
Net imports42GWh
In
53 Out
11
Zero-carbon share73%of generation
Nuclear 14%Hydro 1%Wind 55%Solar 3%

Transfers · Fri 21 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Friday 21 May 2021, Great Britain imported 53 GWh and exported 11 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (34 GWh), and the most exports went to France (10 GWh).

All interconnectors

Fri 21 May
Imported
53GWh
Exported
11GWh
Net in
42GWh
Average net flow
1.74GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.60GWImporting

In 14.5 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average1.02GWImporting

In 34.2 GWhOut 9.8 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.12GWImporting

In 3.8 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

Average0.20GWPumping

Generated 3.7 GWhPumped 8.5 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.