Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Saturday 22 May 2021

On Saturday 22 May, demand averaged 29.0 GW. Renewables supplied 32%.

29.0GW AVERAGEWind7.65 GW25%Hydro0.28 GW1%Biomass2.29 GW8%Solar1.69 GW6%Gas10.29 GW34%Imports3.26 GW11%Nuclear4.58 GW15%29.0GW AVERAGE25%8%34%11%15%
Price
£77.70/MWh
Day average £77.70
Demand29.0GW
Generation 26.8Transfers 2.2
Fossil fuels34%
Renewables32%
Other34%
Carbon intensityModerate
143g/kWh
0Day average 143300
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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 22 May 2021, gas supplied 34% of Great Britain’s electricity and wind 25%. Demand peaked at 34.7 GW at 12:00. Carbon intensity averaged 143 g/kWh and the price £77.70/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 13.7 GW at 00:25. Solar generation peaked at 4.8 GW at 15:00. Carbon intensity was lowest at 01:00 (65 g/kWh) and highest at 22:00 (219 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £45.54/MWh at 23:00 to £87.97/MWh at 21:00. Gas made 38% 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 1.695.6%Wind 7.6525.5%Gas 10.2934.3%Hydro 0.280.9%Biomass 2.297.6%Nuclear 4.5815.3%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 29.0avgGeneration 26.8avgTransfers 2.2avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand34.7GW · 12:00
Low 21.6 · 05:05Avg 29.00–40 GW
Made in Great Britain92%of demand
Generation 26.8Transfers 2.2 GW
Net imports56GWh
In
75 Out
18
Zero-carbon share53%of generation
Nuclear 17%Hydro 1%Wind 29%Solar 6%

Transfers · Sat 22 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Saturday 22 May 2021, Great Britain imported 75 GWh and exported 18 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (55 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (18 GWh).

All interconnectors

Sat 22 May
Imported
75GWh
Exported
18GWh
Net in
56GWh
Average net flow
2.35GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.83GWImporting

In 20.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average2.28GWImporting

In 54.6 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.77GWExporting

In 0.0 GWhOut 18.4 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 3.5 GWhPumped 6.9 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.