Live energy dashboard

Live UK electricity generation and energy data

Live electricity generation, demand, imports and exports, carbon intensity, prices, frequency and gas flows for Great Britain.

Delayed · Great BritainSnapshot 18:00

Britain's electricity generation, imports and exports right now

Electricity demand

Current electricity demand across Great Britain is the sum of generation in Britain and net transfers with neighbouring countries.

Current electricity demand31.7 GWGenerated in BritainNet transfers26.9 GW+4.8 GW

Electricity imports

3.85 GW

Electricity exports

0.13 GW

Electricity generation breakdown

1.38 GW from other or misc. sources

Tap or click any source or country for exact figures, interconnector names and observation times.

Renewable and low-carbon electricity

Share of domestic generation coming from renewable and low-carbon sources.

Renewable share

39.9%

Wind, solar and hydro

Low-carbon share

64.2%

Includes nuclear

Interconnectors

Individual interconnector cables and their current flow.

  • North Sea Link

    Norway

    +1.40 GW

  • IFA

    France

    +856 MW

  • ElecLink

    France

    +696 MW

  • IFA2

    France

    +685 MW

  • Viking Link

    Denmark

    +213 MW

  • BritNed

    Netherlands

    0 MW

  • East-West

    Ireland

    −9 MW

  • Greenlink

    Ireland

    −10 MW

  • Moyle

    Northern Ireland

    −13 MW

  • Nemo Link

    Belgium

    −102 MW

Electricity storage

Pumped-storage hydro stores electricity by pumping water uphill, then generates it later by letting the water flow back through turbines.

Pumped storage

1.08 GW

Generating

StorageGreat Britain
How these figures are calculated

One snapshot, one displayed generation denominator: 26.92 GW, excluding Elexon Other. The doughnut, source percentages, renewable share and low-carbon share all use this named-source generation total. Signed interconnector and pumped-storage flows are added to it to give the displayed demand of 31.72 GW. Percentages are rounded only for display, not rescaled.

Wind combines transmission-metered wind with embedded wind from NESO's demand data update. Solar is embedded solar from the same NESO update for the current settlement period. Generation outside the named fuel categories is reported by Elexon under the code OTHER. It is listed separately as other or miscellaneous sources, is not included in the doughnut or breakdown, and is not treated as battery output.

Displayed balance · named-source generation 26.92 GW · net transfers +3.72 GW · pumped storage +1.08 GW · demand 31.72 GW · other or misc. sources 1.38 GW.

Sources: Elexon BMRS · NESO · Status: delayed · Observation: 18:00 UK time · Coverage: Great Britain

Today

How Britain's electricity is changing today

Great Britain · rolling 24 hours · half-hourly

Electricity generation over the last 24 hours

How Great Britain's electricity generation has varied over the last 24 hours.

0.0 GW17.0 GW34.0 GW16:00 Tue04:00 Wed16:00 Wed
Peak 34.0 GW at 18:30Nuclear Gas Biomass Hydro Pumped storage Wind Solar Other Net interconnector flow shown on hover
Showing the last data received · Last updated 16:10LIVE

Tomorrow · Thu 17 Sept

Expected peak demand

20.8 GW

00:00

FORECAST

Published 00:17 · Stale · Forecast Great Britain National Demand · Source: Elexon BMRS · NGESO

The system now

Carbon, price and frequency

Four system-wide indicators, from the same live sources used above.

Carbon intensity

106

Moderate

Measured half hour to 16:00 · NESO · Great Britain · gCO₂/kWh

Renewable share

38.0%

Low carbon 61.0%

Delayed · Wind, solar and hydro at 18:00 · Elexon/NESO · Great Britain · %

Wholesale price

£155.7/MWh

Settlement period 32

Delayed · Half hour from 15:30 · Elexon BMRS · Great Britain · £/MWh

Grid frequency

50.12 Hz

+0.120 Hz from 50 Hz

Delayed · Measured at 17:43 · Elexon BMRS · Great Britain · Hz

Live gas

Live UK gas supply

Gas supply, demand and the balance between them on the National Transmission System, published by National Gas Transmission roughly every 12 minutes.

Live gas · Great Britain

Updated 138 minutes ago · Published 15:59

Gas demand

Current demand, supply and the balance between them on the National Transmission System.

Gas demand

116.55 mcm/day

What Britain is taking off the network right now.

Gas supply

118.00 mcm/day

What is flowing into the network right now.

Supply above demand

+1.45 mcm/day

Difference between the latest instantaneous NTS supply and demand flow rates. Linepack means this is not the same as the system's formal balancing position.

Where Britain’s gas is coming from

Each route below adds up the entry-point flows National Gas publishes for that group of landing points. The headline supply figure above is National Gas’s own total, not this sum.

UK production75.68 mcm/day67%

Gas produced from British fields and brought ashore at UK terminals.

Norwegian pipelines27.56 mcm/day25%

Gas piped from Norwegian fields, landing at Easington and St Fergus.

LNG terminals7.13 mcm/day6%

Liquefied gas delivered by ship and returned to gas at Grain and Milford Haven.

Storage sites1.84 mcm/day2%

Gas released back into the network from British storage facilities.

European pipelines0.00 mcm/day0%

Pipeline links to Belgium and the Netherlands, flowing into Britain.

Into the network

National Transmission System

The high-pressure pipelines that carry gas from entry points to power stations, industry and local gas networks.

Gas storage

Gas currently flowing out of storage sites into the National Transmission System. Storage acts as a buffer, releasing gas when demand is high and refilling when demand is lower.

1.84 mcm/day

National Gas linepack

333.08 mcm

Linepack is the gas sitting inside the transmission pipelines themselves. It acts like a cushion: when supply runs a little ahead of demand the pipes fill up, and when demand runs ahead they draw down. That is why supply and demand rarely match exactly at any moment.

Gas supply by entry point

Tap a row for the site name, its published category and the time of the latest reading.

Source: National Gas Transmission · Instantaneous Flow. Readings are taken about every two minutes and published in sets roughly every 12 minutes. Route groupings are ours; the flows and units are as published.

Historical data

Explore Britain’s energy history

Electricity generated in Great Britain

Average megawatts by fuel. Wind is transmission-metered plus embedded wind. Imports and storage are excluded from generation.

Loading historical data…

Source: – · –.

Available historical observations

UK energy records

Great Britain record holders within the stored dataset, not all-time records. Coverage varies by source and may contain gaps.

Data currently unavailable. Record holders are calculated only from validated archived observations and will appear after the background calculation completes. No placeholder records are shown.

Recent records

No later record-breaking event has yet been recorded under the current versioned definitions.

Daily, monthly, annual and full-coverage extrema are updated from normalized observations in the project database. “All-time” is not used because source coverage differs by metric.

Forecasts

Energy forecasts

Each source is shown only for its published horizon. Carbon forecasts cover 48 hours and are not extended into the seven-day view.

Electricity demand forecast

Expected Great Britain national demand. Half-hour detail is available for today and tomorrow; daily NDFD values cover the medium range where published.

15.824.433.000:3004:3008:3012:3016:3020:3000:3004:30

Forecast demand, GW · average MW per settlement period

Tomorrow · Thu 17 Sept

Expected peak demand

20.8 GW

00:00

FORECAST

Published 00:17 · Stale · Forecast Great Britain National Demand · Source: Elexon BMRS · NGESO

Renewable generation forecast

Forecast embedded wind and solar generation over the selected period, where present in NESO's published file.

0.0 GW4.1 GW8.1 GWWed 16 Sept 18:00Thu 17 Sept 18:00Fri 18 Sept 18:00
ForecastWind –Solar –

Carbon intensity forecast

Forecast carbon intensity across Great Britain for the API's available 48-hour period.

07515016:0022:0004:0010:0016:00
69 gCO₂/kWh at 15:30–16:00 · Forecast · lowSolid line = measured · Dashed line = forecastGreat Britain · Source: NESO Carbon Intensity API

Cleanest time to use electricity

The two-hour window with the lowest forecast carbon intensity.

Today

22:00–00:00

88 gCO₂/kWh average

Tomorrow

12:30–14:30

46 gCO₂/kWh average

Tomorrow's energy outlook

Expected demand, renewable output and the cleanest window for tomorrow.

Peak demand

20.8 GW

00:00

Wind peak

3.9 GW

15:00

Solar peak

8.1 GW

13:00

Cleanest 2 hours

12:30–14:30

46 gCO₂/kWh

Wholesale prices so far today

Observed Market Index prices only. energy.org.uk does not forecast wholesale electricity prices.

Current wholesale price

£155.68/MWh

Half hour from 15:30 UK time

Lowest observed so far today

£117.77/MWh

Half hour from 02:00 UK time

Highest observed so far today

£189.38/MWh

Half hour from 07:30 UK time

Delayed · Source: Elexon BMRS · Market Index Data · Great Britain · £/MWh

The energy transition

The energy transition

Latest available electricity snapshot

At this snapshot, wind, solar and hydro supply 38.0% of domestic generation. Gas is the largest single generation source in this snapshot at 9.64 GW. Great Britain is importing 3.72 GW across interconnectors, while pumped storage is currently generating. These figures describe this observation only, not annual generation.

Delayed data. Generated from the reconciled snapshot at 16 September 2026, 18:00 UK time. Sources: Elexon BMRS · NESO Demand Data Update.

Annual UK generation: 2025

DESNZ annual electricity statistics report that renewables accounted for 52.1% of UK generation in 2025. This includes wind, solar, hydro and bioenergy, not wind and solar alone. Low-carbon sources, defined in these annual statistics as nuclear plus renewables, accounted for 64.3%. 2025 was the first full year without coal generation.

These are full-year UK figures, including Northern Ireland, rather than the Great Britain live snapshot above. The largest source and renewable share at any particular moment can differ from the annual mix; one observation does not establish a long-term trend.

Source: DESNZ, Digest of UK Energy Statistics, Chapter 5: Electricity, annual data for 2025.

How this is measured

Methodology and data availability

Electricity generation comes from Elexon's five-minute FUELINST feed for Great Britain. Interconnector flows are taken from the same observation, so generation and transfers always describe the same moment. Imports are positive and exports negative.

Pumped storage is positive when generating and negative when charging. Embedded wind and solar are published separately by NESO and are labelled wherever they are used. Carbon intensity is from the NESO Carbon Intensity API, and household rates come from Ofgem.

When a source is late, the most recent valid observation is shown and labelled delayed. Missing data is never treated as zero, and a figure that cannot be verified is marked unavailable rather than estimated.

Sources used on this page

  • Elexon BMRS: generation, interconnectors, demand, market prices, frequency
  • NESO: carbon intensity, embedded wind and solar, demand data
  • National Gas Transmission: gas supply, demand, entry flows and linepack
  • Ofgem: household capped rates
Full methodology Data sources

Understand live energy

Live energy questions

Where does Britain's electricity come from?
Britain's electricity comes from several different sources. Wind turbines and solar panels generate electricity from the weather, gas-fired power stations burn natural gas, nuclear power stations produce energy from nuclear reactions, biomass plants burn biological material such as wood, and hydroelectric stations generate power using moving water. Britain can also buy electricity from, or sell electricity to, neighbouring countries through interconnectors: high-voltage electricity cables connecting different countries' power systems. Pumped-storage hydro can also store electricity by using it to pump water uphill and then generate electricity later by releasing the water back through turbines.
What does carbon intensity mean?
Carbon intensity measures how much carbon dioxide is released for each unit of electricity generated, expressed in grams of CO₂ per kilowatt-hour. It falls when a lot of electricity is coming from wind, solar, nuclear and hydro, and rises when more gas-fired generation is needed. Using electricity at times of low carbon intensity means the electricity you use is responsible for fewer emissions.
What are interconnectors?
Interconnectors are high-voltage cables that link Britain's electricity system to those of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Ireland. Electricity flows in whichever direction the market and system conditions call for, so Britain can be importing on one cable and exporting on another at the same moment. Imports are shown as positive figures and exports as negative ones.
What is pumped storage?
Pumped-storage hydro stores electricity by using it to pump water into an upper reservoir, then generates electricity later by letting the water fall back through turbines. When it is generating it adds to supply, and when it is pumping it adds to demand, so it is shown as a positive figure when generating and a negative figure when charging.
Why does gas affect electricity prices?
Electricity is bought and sold in a wholesale market, where generators sell electricity to suppliers before it ultimately reaches homes and businesses. Gas-fired power stations are useful because they can change their output relatively quickly when more electricity is needed. At many times, a gas-fired station is among the more expensive generators needed to meet demand, and the wholesale market price can therefore be strongly influenced by the cost of gas.
What is grid frequency?
Grid frequency is the rate at which alternating current alternates across the electricity system, measured in hertz. Britain's system runs at close to 50 Hz. If demand exceeds supply the frequency falls slightly, and if supply exceeds demand it rises, so the system operator constantly balances the two to keep frequency within a narrow band.
How much electricity is Britain using right now?
The electricity demand figure in the current electricity section is the reconciled Great Britain total for the displayed snapshot. It combines generation in Britain with signed interconnector flows and signed pumped-storage activity. The source, observation time, status and units appear with the figure.
Is Britain importing or exporting electricity?
The current electricity flow diagram shows imports and exports separately by country and cable. Positive interconnector flow is an import into Great Britain and negative flow is an export. Because different cables can flow in opposite directions simultaneously, gross imports and exports can both be present.
How much of Britain’s electricity is renewable?
The renewable share shown here is the share of domestic Great Britain generation supplied by wind, solar and hydro in the reconciled snapshot. It is not an annual UK statistic and it does not include imports in the denominator.
What is the cleanest time to use electricity?
The cleanest upcoming two-hour period is the consecutive four half-hours with the lowest average forecast carbon intensity in the published NESO Carbon Intensity forecast. It is shown only within the API’s available forecast period and is not extended across seven days.
How are UK energy records calculated?
Records are calculated in the project database from validated normalized observations. Definitions are versioned, duplicate events are prevented, and each record states its source, Great Britain coverage, value type and coverage start. The site does not call a records API and does not describe incomplete coverage as all time.
Is this live National Grid data?
Great Britain’s electricity system operator is now the National Energy System Operator, NESO. energy.org.uk uses official data from NESO, Elexon BMRS and National Gas Transmission. Each panel identifies its source because electricity operations, market data, carbon forecasts and gas flows are published by different organizations.
Why do forecast periods differ between datasets?
Each publisher provides a different genuine horizon. Carbon intensity is available for about 48 hours, embedded wind and solar can extend further in NESO’s current file, and Elexon publishes separate short-term and medium-range demand and surplus datasets. energy.org.uk stops each series at its published limit rather than stretching it.