Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Tuesday 21 December 2021

On Tuesday 21 December, demand averaged 36.4 GW. Renewables supplied 7%.

36.4GW AVERAGEWind1.75 GW5%Hydro0.55 GW1%Biomass2.94 GW8%Solar0.16 GW0%Gas20.99 GW56%Coal1.82 GW5%Imports3.22 GW9%Nuclear6.20 GW16%36.4GW AVERAGE8%56%9%16%
Price
£351.29/MWh
Day average £351.29
Demand36.4GW
Generation 34.4Transfers 2.0
Fossil fuels56%
Renewables7%
Other33%
Carbon intensityHigh
296g/kWh
0Day average 296300
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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 21 December 2021, gas supplied 56% of Great Britain’s electricity and nuclear 16%. Demand peaked at 44.3 GW at 17:20. Carbon intensity averaged 296 g/kWh and the price £351.29/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 3.2 GW at 23:50. Solar generation peaked at 0.9 GW at 12:00. Carbon intensity was lowest at 23:30 (258 g/kWh) and highest at 06:30 (316 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £258.78/MWh at 03:30 to £432.27/MWh at 16:30. Gas made 61% 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 0.160.4%Wind 1.754.7%Gas 20.9955.8%Hydro 0.551.5%Biomass 2.947.8%Nuclear 6.2016.5%Coal 1.824.8%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 36.4avgGeneration 34.4avgTransfers 2.0avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand44.3GW · 17:20
Low 25.8 · 04:25Avg 36.40–60 GW
Made in Great Britain95%of demand
Generation 34.4Transfers 2.0 GW
Net imports51GWh
In
70 Out
19
Zero-carbon share25%of generation
Nuclear 18%Hydro 2%Wind 5%Solar 0%

Transfers · Tue 21 Dec

Interconnectors and storage

On Tuesday 21 December 2021, Great Britain imported 70 GWh and exported 19 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from Netherlands (19 GWh), and the most exports went to France (17 GWh).

All interconnectors

Tue 21 Dec
Imported
70GWh
Exported
19GWh
Net in
51GWh
Average net flow
2.11GW in

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.55GWImporting

In 15.0 GWhOut 1.8 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average0.57GWExporting

In 2.9 GWhOut 16.6 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.74GWImporting

In 17.7 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.76GWImporting

In 19.2 GWhOut 1.0 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.63GWImporting

In 15.1 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.11GWPumping

Generated 7.3 GWhPumped 9.8 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.