Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Wednesday 18 August 2021

On Wednesday 18 August, demand averaged 29.8 GW. Renewables supplied 31%.

29.8GW AVERAGEWind7.74 GW25%Hydro0.19 GW1%Biomass1.71 GW6%Solar1.41 GW5%Gas10.83 GW35%Coal0.12 GW0%Imports4.30 GW14%Nuclear4.33 GW14%29.8GW AVERAGE25%35%14%14%
Price
£109.87/MWh
Day average £109.87
Demand29.8GW
Generation 26.3Transfers 3.5
Fossil fuels35%
Renewables31%
Other34%
Carbon intensityModerate
163g/kWh
0Day average 163300
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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 Wednesday 18 August 2021, gas supplied 35% of Great Britain’s electricity and wind 25%. Demand peaked at 35.5 GW at 13:00. Carbon intensity averaged 163 g/kWh and the price £109.87/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 9.7 GW at 13:40. Solar generation peaked at 4.4 GW at 13:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 05:00 (113 g/kWh) and highest at 21:00 (228 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £63.61/MWh at 00:00 to £141.60/MWh at 11:30. Gas made 41% 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 1.414.6%Wind 7.7425.3%Gas 10.8335.4%Hydro 0.190.6%Biomass 1.715.6%Nuclear 4.3314.1%Coal 0.120.4%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 29.8avgGeneration 26.3avgTransfers 3.5avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand35.5GW · 13:00
Low 21.1 · 03:55Avg 29.80–40 GW
Made in Great Britain88%of demand
Generation 26.3Transfers 3.5 GW
Net imports88GWh
In
100 Out
12
Zero-carbon share52%of generation
Nuclear 16%Hydro 1%Wind 29%Solar 5%

Transfers · Wed 18 Aug

Interconnectors and storage

On Wednesday 18 August 2021, Great Britain imported 100 GWh and exported 12 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (64 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (12 GWh).

All interconnectors

Wed 18 Aug
Imported
100GWh
Exported
12GWh
Net in
88GWh
Average net flow
3.66GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.87GWImporting

In 20.8 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average2.68GWImporting

In 64.4 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.49GWExporting

In 0.2 GWhOut 12.0 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.56GWImporting

In 13.6 GWhOut 0.2 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.04GWImporting

In 1.1 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.19GWPumping

Generated 3.1 GWhPumped 7.6 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.