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GRIDWATCH™

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Data courtesy of Elexon portal and Sheffield University
Demand: This is the total demand of the entire country (but not plus exports)
less any unmetered generating sources like wind but including an estimate for
solar.

The amber warning represents the demand level that cannot be reliably met by
wood or fossil burning and nuclear generation, but must be augmented by imports,
or unreliable intermittent 'renewable' energy.


Demand 39.40GW
Frequency: Grid frequency is controlled to be exactly 50Hz on average, but
varies slightly. A lower frequency corresponds to a higher potential demand than
actual generating capacity: by allowing the frequency and voltage to go lower,
the demand is reduced slightly to keep the balance, and vice versa.

Frequency 50.051Hz
CCGT: Combined Cycle Gas Turbines are gas turbines whose hot exhausts are used
to drive a boiler and steam turbine. This two stage process makes them very
efficient in gas usage. They are also quite fast to get online - less than an
hour in general, so they are used to cover (profitable) peak demand and to
balance wind output.

CCGT 22.15GW
(56.22%)
Wind: This is the total contributed by metered wind farms. Wind power
contributes about another 30% from embedded (or unmetered) wind turbines that
shows only as a drop in demand. Wind like nuclear, will sell into any market
price because turbines are expensive, wind is not and subsidies are always paid.
The variability of wind leads to very high fluctuations in output.

Wind 2.19GW
(5.56%)
Nuclear: Currently the UK has seven AGR designs and one relatively modern PWR.
Nuclear power stations are run flat-out to maximise income. Since the cost of
fuel is almost insignificant, it pays them to sell at any price they can get.
Variations in output are generally signs that refuelling or maintenance is
ongoing.

Nuclear 4.09GW
(10.38%)
French Interconnectors: These are a 2GW and two 1GW bi-directional link to
France which are able to import up to 4GW of power from France - usually in
summer when France has a nuclear power surplus - and export in winter, when the
UK's excess of backup plant and coal power can be profitably sold to meet
continental shortfalls.

French ICTs 2.5GW
(6.35%)
BritNed Interconnector: This is a 1GW connector to Holland. Its usage seems to
reflect a surplus or a deficit of NW europe wind energy.

Dutch ICT 1.00GW
(2.54%)
Moyle interconector.: This is a 500MW (0.5GW) bi-directional link from Scotland
to N Ireland. Normally used to import cheaper electricity to Ireland, but
sometimes reverses when demand is high, as Ireland has a good installed base of
gas turbine power stations.

Irish ICT -0.45GW
(-1.14%)
East-West Interconnector: This is a new 500MW (0.5GW) bi-directional link
between Wales and the Irish Republic, enabling access to the UK (and
continental) grid, and prices, for the Irish consumers. On 8 September 2016, the
interconnector developed a fault. The interconnector re-entered service on the
20 December 2016 with a fully rated 500 MW import, however exports to the UK are
still limited to roughly 280MW

E-W ICT -0.53GW
(-1.35%)
NEMO Interconnector: This is a new 1GW connector to Belgium. Its usage seems to
reflect a surplus or a deficit of NW europe wind energy.

Nemo ICT 1.02GW
(2.59%)
NSL Interconnector: This is a new 1.4GW connector to Norway due to come on
stream late 2021. It will be used to balance UK windpower with Norwegian
hydropower.

Norway ICT 1.38GW
(3.50%)
Pumped Storage: These are small hydro-electric stations that can use overnight
electricity to recharge their reservoirs. Mainly used to meet very short term
peak demands (the water soon runs out). They represent the nearest thing to
'storage' that is attached to the grid.

Pumped 0.71GW
(1.80%)
Hydroelectric power: The UK has no major hydroelectric power stations, but a
collection of smaller ones, mainly in Scotland, that provide very useful power
(if it's rained recently!). There would be a little more, but many stations
deliberately reduce output to get the best renewable subsidy rates.

Hydro 0.96GW
(2.44%)
Biomass: These power stations are either (parts of) old coal plants that have
been converted to run on imported timber - e.g. Drax 2 - thus enabling them to
qualify as 'renewable' and gain subsidies thereby, or purpose built biomass
burners like Stevens Croft (40MW) built to use sawmill waste.

Biomass 2.65GW
(6.73%)
Solar PV: As no solar PV to date is metered centrally, we cannot show accurate
real time figures on solar PV power.

Estimated power (data provided by Sheffield University) is shown here. There is
good evidence from the lack of decrease in recorded demand at midday to suppose
this is somewhat overestimated, however.


Solar 0.01GW
(0.03%)
Coal: Coal is no longer the largest contributor to the UK grid as gas prices are
currently low, and legislation has forced closure of most plants. Drax also
co-fires biomass with coal, which allows them to gain access to renewable
subsidies. Coal plants are now restricted in running hours for emissions, so
tend to run only in winter, when prices are higher.

Coal 0.48GW
(1.22%)
OCGT: Open Cycle Gas Turbines, are gas turbines without steam plant to maximise
their efficiency. They are cheap to build, but expensive to run, so are seldom
used except in emergencies in winter, when very high market prices of
electricity make them profitable.

OCGT 0.00GW
(0.00%)


Daily Demand (GW)


Weekly Demand (GW)


Monthly Demand (GW)


Yearly Demand (GW)


Daily Nuclear/Coal/CCGT/Wind (GW)


Weekly Nuclear/Coal/CCGT/Wind (GW)


Monthly Nuclear/Coal/CCGT/Wind (GW)


Yearly Nuclear/Coal/CCGT/Wind (GW)


Daily Hydro/Pumped/Bio/Solar (GW)


Weekly Hydro/Pumped/Bio/Solar (GW)


Monthly Hydro/Pumped/Bio/Solar (GW)


Yearly Hydro/Pumped/Bio/Solar (GW)


Daily French/Irish/Dutch/EW/BE/NSL ICT (GW)


Weekly French/Irish/Dutch/EW/BE/NSL ICT (GW)


Monthly French/Irish/Dutch/EW/BE/NSL ICT (GW)


Yearly French/Irish/Dutch/EW/BE/NSL ICT (GW)
All data is in GMT except this information, which is in local time for user
convenience:
Data last recorded on Sunday the 26th. of November, 2023 at 16:11 GMT

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!BMREPORTS ARE CURRENTLY DOWN.
GRIDWATCH IS THEREFORE NOT REPORTING UP TO DATE DATA!


!SHEFFIELD UNIVERSITY IS CURRENTLY NOT SUPPLYING ACCURATE REAL TIME INFORMATION
ON SOLAR POWER.
GRIDWATCH IS THEREFORE NOT REPORTING UP TO DATE DATA!