UK Electricity Mix

Use the live dashboard on this page to see current demand, visible generation, renewable share, gas output, nuclear generation, imports and exports, storage context and carbon intensity. These values change as settlement periods update and source systems publish fresh data.

Current values require dated source observations. When those are unavailable, this page retains its explanation without presenting an archived reading as current.

The electricity mix is the share of power coming from each source at a particular time. In Britain this usually includes wind, solar, gas, nuclear, biomass, hydro, pumped storage, imports and other smaller categories.

It is different from the total UK energy mix. Total energy includes transport fuels, heating, oil, industrial energy and other non-electricity uses. EnergyMix.info is about electricity: what is powering the grid now and what that means for carbon intensity.

Most live electricity-system feeds used by public dashboards cover Great Britain: England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland is part of the UK, but it operates in a separate electricity market and is not normally included in the same live GB electricity mix feeds.

That distinction matters. The page uses common search language such as “UK electricity mix”, but explains the geographic coverage so the numbers are not presented as more complete than the source data allows.

Britain’s live electricity mix is shaped by a handful of major categories. Each behaves differently, which is why the grid can look very different on a windy night, a still winter evening or a bright summer lunchtime.

Renewable electricity usually means wind, solar, hydro and sometimes biomass depending on the accounting convention. Low-carbon electricity is broader: it normally includes renewables plus nuclear, because nuclear has low operational carbon emissions even though it is not renewable.

This distinction matters when reading live dashboards. A high renewable share and a high low-carbon share often move together, but they are not identical. Nuclear can keep low-carbon share high even when wind and solar are modest.

Demand usually rises in the morning, dips through parts of the day, and peaks in the early evening. Solar can reduce daytime gas demand, while wind can lower carbon intensity for hours or days at a time. When demand is high and wind is low, gas generation typically increases.

Weather is the largest visible driver for wind and solar. Interconnector flows can shift quickly as neighbouring markets change. Storage and pumped storage may charge when electricity is abundant and discharge when the system needs fast power. Planned or unplanned outages can also move the mix.

Carbon intensity estimates the emissions associated with each unit of electricity used. The mix is one of the main reasons it changes. More wind, solar, hydro, nuclear or cleaner imports usually lower carbon intensity; more gas or other fossil generation usually raises it.

This is why the mix page links closely to the carbon-intensity page. The generation mix explains what is powering the grid, while carbon intensity translates that mix into a practical CO2/kWh signal.

EnergyMix.info uses public electricity and carbon-intensity data to make these movements easier to understand. Source categories include Elexon/BMRS generation feeds, NESO-related datasets, the Carbon Intensity API and supporting sources for embedded solar and interconnector context.

Live figures can lag, source categories can differ, and some values may be revised, so the best use of the dashboard is as a timely public explanation rather than a billing-grade meter. The data page explains the sources, limitations and why numbers can differ between dashboards.