About MyGridGB

Welcome to MyGridGB

The way that electricity is being generated in Great Britain changes every minute of every day. Our power must respond to changing weather and to every flick of a switch on cold winter nights and long summer days. Power stations themselves are changing, with reducing numbers of coal power stations, new nuclear plants and growth in gas, wind, solar and biomass.

MyGridGB charts all of this change. It is a family of platforms which give real time information and analysis of energy and carbon emissions in Great Britain. I established MyGridGB to provide a source of unbiased information about these contentious issues and let you, the public, form your own opinions on our energy future based on the data given.

It provides analysis of the volumes of electricity being produced and consumed, and where that electricity comes from. It shows this in real time as well as using historical data. It uses data from Sheffield University and Elexon, the company responsible for managing the electricity and trading arrangements of England and Wales. Blogs by myself and guest authors also provide the latest insights.

The analysis is not limited to the volumes of electricity. MyGridGB also charts carbon emissions from electricity – of critical importance for a country with carbon reduction targets.

My Clean Power 2030 Plan shows an alternative electricity mix. This alternative is a simulation of a different mix of power stations and energy which would meet our carbon objectives. It is simulated in real time on the website and includes a stimulus for solar and batteries on our homes – as I strongly believe that homes are the power stations of the future.

Contact

Carbon Targets

I assume our 2030 carbon target to be 50–100 grams of CO₂ equivalent per kWh. This value is taken from the Committee on Climate Change.

Grid Data

GB electricity is provided from a number of sources (gas, coal, nuclear etc). The amount that each produces is adjusted in real time in response to the amount of demand, the availability of equipment, maintenance, in response to weather etc. MyGridGB attempts to summarise the amount of generation from each source on a regular basis via Twitter and on this website.

Data about the generation of all sources of energy (except solar) are collected from BM Reports via Elexon who work on balancing the supply for electricity with the demand for electricity. They report the total generation from different sources of electricity every 5 minutes. As of November 2019, I no longer include an estimate of embedded wind in the data.

Solar Data

Solar generation is not presently measured and reported by BM Reports alongside other forms of generation. MyGridGB gets its solar outturn data from the Sheffield Solar Group at the University of Sheffield.

Sheffield Solar has been analysing the performance of operational solar PV systems in the UK since 2010. They now provide National Grid with solar outturn data for their control room. National Grid need this as solar is embedded in the distribution network so its outturn data is not available to the system operator. Sheffield Solar's analysis combines generation data from around 20,000 systems with installed capacity data to give GB national solar outturn. They also provide PV_Regional, a regional PV outturn and short term PV forecast services (PV_Forecast). The regional forecast is used for understanding where pinch points may occur on the grid, while PV_Forecast is used by energy industry stakeholders to anticipate future demand, accounting for solar.

• PV_Live
• PV_Regional
• PV_Forecast
• The University of Sheffield

The solar generation figure is an estimate, and one that will be refined by the University over time.

Carbon Dioxide Equivalent Estimation

Carbon Dioxide equivalent is the combined effect of all greenhouse gases (not just CO₂) from different electricity generation sources over their lifetime. Where CO₂ figures are reported, values are taken from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): Life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions of energy sources.

Note that other websites (Drax, NESO) use lower values for the carbon intensity of biomass — I apply IPCC/independent analysis in my figures.

Throughout I use the "median" figures from the following table:

Technology	Median Carbon Factor (gCO₂eq./kWh)
Coal	820
Gas	490
Biomass	230
Solar PV — Utility Scale	48
Solar PV — Rooftop	41
Hydropower	24
Wind — Onshore	12
Wind — Offshore	12
Imports — France	12
Imports — Norway	12
Imports — Belgium	230
Imports — Ireland	431
Imports — Netherlands	483
Storage	24

Solar Petition

MyGridGB ran a petition calling for solar panels on all new homes built in the UK. The petition did not reach its target, but the case for rooftop solar in new builds remains strong.

System Cost (LCOE) Methodology

The 2030 Blueprint page shows the average cost of generating one megawatt-hour of electricity delivered to consumers — a System Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE). This answers: if you had to pay for every asset in today's (or tomorrow's) grid, what would each delivered MWh cost on average?

LCOE figures are drawn from the DESNZ Electricity Generation Costs 2025 report, central estimates for a 2030 commissioning year in 2024 real prices (Annex A).

Technology	LCOE (£/MWh)	Source / Notes
Wind (onshore/offshore blend)	80	DESNZ 2025; onshore £58, offshore £103; 2030 commissioning
Solar PV	60	DESNZ 2025; 2030 commissioning
Gas CCGT	load-factor dependent	See formula below; capped at £250/MWh
Biomass	120	Approximate; based on CfD strike prices; not in DESNZ 2025
Large Hydro	60	Existing fleet estimate
Battery storage	90	Approximate BESS capital + O&M, per MWh dispatched
Imports	100	Approximate average interconnector cost
Nuclear	excluded	See note below

Gas LCOE is load-factor dependent. A gas plant's fixed capital costs are spread over however many hours it runs — a plant running 5% of the time costs far more per MWh than one running at 90%. The formula is calibrated from DESNZ 2025 Annex A data points for a CCGT at 2030 commissioning:

LCOE_gas = 16.74 / LF + 104   (£/MWh, LF = load factor 0–1, capped at £250)

The variable component (£104/MWh) covers fuel at £58/MWh — based on the 5-year average UK NBP gas price of approximately 94p/therm for 2020–2024, which includes the 2022 energy crisis — plus carbon costs of £41/MWh and variable O&M of £5/MWh. The cap of £250/MWh reflects that by 2030, capacity markets, battery storage, and fuel flexibility will prevent purely theoretical scarcity pricing for rarely-used gas peakers.

Curtailment cost. Under the Blueprint, some wind and solar generation is curtailed when output exceeds both demand and available storage capacity. Those turbines and panels still have to be built and financed, so the full generation cost is included even for curtailed MWh — spread across electricity actually delivered to consumers:

System LCOE = Σ(LCOE_i × GWh_generated,i) ÷ Σ(GWh_delivered,i)

The Blueprint simulation gives direct delivery figures for wind and solar. These are scaled up to total generated using the curtailment model (dividing by the direct-delivery fraction), so the cost numerator captures all generation including the curtailed portion.

Useful curtailment. The third LCOE figure assumes that 50% of curtailed renewable energy is usefully consumed — for example, charging electric vehicles, running heat pumps, or producing green hydrogen — rather than being wasted entirely. Since those MWh are already paid for (the turbines exist regardless), every curtailed electron that finds a use reduces the average cost per useful MWh. This scenario is important in the context of decarbonisation: using low-carbon curtailed electricity to power vehicles displaces petrol and diesel, compounding the carbon benefit beyond the electricity sector.

Nuclear is excluded from this comparison. Today's fleet is largely amortised — its effective running cost is well below £50/MWh — while new-build nuclear (Hinkley Point C) carries a strike price of around £140/MWh. Applying the same LCOE figure to both scenarios would either overstate today's cost or understate the Blueprint's. Excluding nuclear keeps the comparison honest; the LCOE tile reflects only the non-nuclear generating mix.

Funding

MyGridGB is mostly funded through my own pocket and via kind donations.

In December 2016, MyGridGB was awarded funding from the Durham Energy Institute (DEI). As a PhD student, I was supported by the DEI and retain a position there as an Associate Fellow. The DEI have no influence on the material which I publish.

Durham Energy Institute draws on the expertise of world-leading researchers across Durham University with a membership spanning departments in Science, Social Science and Humanities. We emphasise a 'Science and Society' approach to energy which tackles the societal aspects of energy technology generating insights into how technology is shaped by, adopted by, and influences society. We also undertake research developing new energy technologies and solutions for the benefit of society including renewables generation (wind, solar, geothermal, bio-fuels) and integration, transmission and distribution, smart energy systems, carbon capture and storage, unconventional hydrocarbons, and nuclear fusion.