Electricity domain

Live Generation Dashboard

See what is powering Britain right now. Real-time generation mix, carbon intensity, and fuel-by-fuel breakdown pulled through the site's cached energy APIs every five minutes. Watch wind drop and gas ramp up, or see solar peak at midday. The abstract concept of system balancing becomes tangible here.

Data from first-party cached routes backed by Elexon BMRS and NESO. Updated every 5 minutes with the latest available settlement period.

Markets →ScenariosNetwork
~98 GW
Installed generation capacity
~45%
Renewable generation (2024 avg)
50 Hz
Target system frequency
288,000 km
Distribution cables
Loading data...
Route freshness
Awaiting data
Waiting for first-party energy routes to respond.
Generation source
Awaiting Elexon BMRS data
The latest available settlement period will appear here when generation data loads.
Carbon source
Awaiting Carbon Intensity data
The current carbon-intensity interval and cache fetch time will appear here when data loads.
Total generation
GW
Carbon intensity
gCO2/kWh
Renewable share
% of current mix
Low-carbon share
% inc. nuclear

Generation mix

How electricity is being generated right now, broken down by fuel type. Hover over any segment to see the exact MW output.

Carbon intensity

How clean is the grid right now? Lower numbers mean more wind, solar, and nuclear in the mix. Higher numbers mean gas and coal are doing the heavy lifting. This number changes constantly with weather and demand.

grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour
0 (very clean) 150 300 450 600+ (fossil heavy)

Generation breakdown

Detailed figures for each fuel type. Click column headers to sort. The trend column compares against the previous data refresh.

Fuel type MW Share Trend
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Reading the dashboard

What the numbers mean, why they change, and what drives the patterns you see.

What total generation tells you
This is all electricity being produced across GB right now, in gigawatts. Typical demand ranges from 20 GW overnight to 35 GW on cold winter evenings. If generation exceeds demand, power flows to interconnectors or storage. If it falls short, imports and fast-response gas fill the gap.
Why the mix changes through the day
Wind and solar are weather-dependent. Solar peaks at midday, wind can spike at any time. Gas plants ramp up and down to balance what renewables cannot provide. Nuclear runs at near-constant baseload. The grid needs all of these working together because demand shifts constantly and renewable output is unpredictable.
Carbon intensity and weather
Windy days push carbon intensity down because wind displaces gas. Sunny summer days do the same for solar. Still, cloudy, cold days push intensity up because gas must compensate. Carbon intensity is a real-time proxy for weather patterns affecting Britain right now.
Where does this data come from?

Generation data comes from the Elexon BMRS API, which publishes actual generation output by fuel type for each half-hour settlement period. Carbon intensity data comes from the Carbon Intensity API used for GB system visibility. This page serves both through first-party cached routes so outages and contract changes are handled by the site before the browser sees them. Generation typically lags physical reality by at least one settlement period because metered data must be collected and validated before publication.

Why does carbon intensity change so much?

Carbon intensity depends on the generation mix. When wind is strong, carbon intensity drops below 100 gCO2/kWh because wind displaces gas. When wind drops and gas fills the gap, intensity can exceed 300 gCO2/kWh. Time of day matters too: solar peaks at midday, reducing daytime intensity. Overnight, gas and nuclear dominate, and intensity rises. The seasonal pattern is even stronger: summer has more solar and less demand, winter has less solar and more gas.

Methodology and sources

Last reviewed: 17 March 2026

All data is served through first-party cached routes backed by public APIs. Generation figures reflect the latest available metered settlement period rather than installed capacity or a forecast. Carbon intensity follows the published GB methodology based on the live generation mix and fuel-specific emission factors.

SourceElexon BMRS API - Half-hourly generation by fuel type.
SourceNESO Carbon Intensity API - Real-time and forecast carbon intensity.
SourceNESO Data Portal - System demand, frequency, and interconnector flows.
Next route

Scenarios: what could the energy system look like in 2030 or 2050?

Compare pathway models from NESO, CCC, and DESNZ to understand the range of possible futures.