Electricity Live

Great Britain’s electricity on Wednesday 18 May 2022

On Wednesday 18 May, demand averaged 29.6 GW. Renewables supplied 44%.

29.6GW AVERAGEWind11.41 GW34%Hydro0.30 GW1%Biomass0.54 GW2%Solar2.75 GW8%Gas12.29 GW37%Imports0.27 GW1%Nuclear5.65 GW17%29.6GW AVERAGE34%8%37%17%
Price
£81.69/MWh
Day average £81.69
Demand29.6GW
Generation 32.9Transfers −3.3
Fossil fuels37%
Renewables44%
Other19%
Carbon intensityModerate
148g/kWh
0Day average 148300
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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 May 2022, gas supplied 37% of Great Britain’s electricity and wind 34%. Demand peaked at 36.2 GW at 12:20. Carbon intensity averaged 148 g/kWh and the price £81.69/MWh. Wind generation peaked at 14.7 GW at 02:10. Solar generation peaked at 8.9 GW at 12:30. Carbon intensity was lowest at 02:00 (82 g/kWh) and highest at 18:30 (193 g/kWh). The wholesale price ranged from £26.40/MWh at 03:00 to £124.62/MWh at 08:00. Gas made 37% of the electricity generated in Great Britain, compared with 41% across 2022.

Charts

Generation, demand, price and carbon

Generation by sourceGW · daily average below
Solar 2.758.3%Wind 11.4134.4%Gas 12.2937.0%Hydro 0.300.9%Biomass 0.541.6%Nuclear 5.6517.0%
Price£/MWh
Carbon intensitygCO₂/kWh
Demand and generationGW
Demand 29.6avgGeneration 32.9avgTransfers −3.3avg
The day in figurespeaks, averages, totals
Peak demand36.2GW · 12:20
Low 20.8 · 04:25Avg 29.60–40 GW
Made in Great Britain111%of demand
Generation 32.9Transfers −3.3 GW
Net exports72GWh
In
4 Out
76
Zero-carbon share61%of generation
Nuclear 17%Hydro 1%Wind 35%Solar 8%

Transfers · Wed 18 May

Interconnectors and storage

On Wednesday 18 May 2022, Great Britain imported 4 GWh and exported 76 GWh through its interconnectors. The most came from Ireland (4 GWh), and the most exports went to France (37 GWh).

All interconnectors

Wed 18 May
Imported
4GWh
Exported
76GWh
Net out
72GWh
Average net flow
2.99GW out

Into Great BritainOut of Great Britain

Belgium

Nemo Link

Average0.94GWExporting

In 0.0 GWhOut 22.7 GWh

Denmark

Viking Link

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

France

IFA · IFA2 · ElecLink

Average1.55GWExporting

In 0.0 GWhOut 37.1 GWh

Ireland

Moyle · East–West · Greenlink

Average0.16GWImporting

In 4.4 GWhOut 0.6 GWh

Netherlands

BritNed

Average0.00GWIdle

In 0.0 GWhOut 0.0 GWh

Norway

North Sea Link

Average0.66GWExporting

In 0.0 GWhOut 15.8 GWh

Pumped storage

Dinorwig · Cruachan · Ffestiniog · Foyers

Average0.33GWPumping

Generated 2.0 GWhPumped 10.0 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.