Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Tuesday 31 August 2021

On Tuesday 31 August, demand averaged 28.9 GW. Renewables supplied 23%.

28.9GW AVERAGEWind5.76 GW19%Hydro0.13 GW0%Biomass1.13 GW4%Solar0.91 GW3%Gas11.56 GW39%Coal0.33 GW1%Imports4.75 GW16%Nuclear5.03 GW17%28.9GW AVERAGE19%39%16%17%
Price
£130.15/MWh
Day average £130.15
Demand28.9GW
Generation 24.9Transfers 4.1
Fossil fuels39%
Renewables23%
Other37%
Carbon intensityModerate
187g/kWh
0Day average 187300
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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 Tuesday 31 August 2021, gas supplied 39% of Great Britain’s electricity and wind 19%. Demand peaked at 34.6 GW at 17:25. Carbon intensity averaged 187 g/kWh and the price £130.15/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 6.5 GW at 00:10. Solar generation peaked at 3.2 GW at 12:00. Carbon intensity was lowest at 01:00 (134 g/kWh) and highest at 19:00 (223 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £89.18/MWh at 02:30 to £163.41/MWh at 18:00. Gas made 47% 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 0.913.1%Wind 5.7619.4%Gas 11.5639.1%Hydro 0.130.5%Biomass 1.133.8%Nuclear 5.0317.0%Coal 0.331.1%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 28.9avgGeneration 24.9avgTransfers 4.1avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand34.6GW · 17:25
Low 19.3 · 02:55Avg 28.90–40 GW
Made in Great Britain86%of demand
Generation 24.9Transfers 4.1 GW
Net imports99GWh
In
108 Out
9
Zero-carbon share48%of generation
Nuclear 20%Hydro 1%Wind 23%Solar 4%

Transfers · Tue 31 Aug

Interconnectors and storage

On Tuesday 31 August 2021, Great Britain imported 108 GWh and exported 9 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from France (65 GWh), and the most exports went to Ireland (9 GWh).

All interconnectors

Tue 31 Aug
Imported
108GWh
Exported
9GWh
Net in
99GWh
Average net flow
4.13GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.88GWImporting

In 21.1 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average2.70GWImporting

In 64.8 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.36GWExporting

In 0.1 GWhOut 8.8 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.91GWImporting

In 21.9 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.1 GWhOut 0.2 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.07GWPumping

Generated 6.0 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.