GB generation mix explorer
An interactive look at how Great Britain meets electricity demand across a day — and why gas is the swing fuel.
Great Britain’s electricity demand rises and falls across the day — low overnight, with peaks in the morning and early evening. A changing mix of sources rises and falls to meet it. The one idea worth holding onto is that gas (CCGT) is the residual plant: it runs to fill whatever gap is left once wind, solar, nuclear, imports and the rest have generated. So the amount of gas we burn — and, with it, the price we pay — depends enormously on how windy the day is.
Switch between a high-wind and a low-wind day, and click items in the legend to add or remove them. Notice how much more gas (CCGT) is needed when the wind drops.
Illustrative sample data — for demonstration only
On the low-wind day, the grey gas band swells to keep the lights on; on the high-wind day it shrinks back. That residual relationship sits at the heart of GB power prices, and it’s the kind of thing that’s far easier to feel by toggling a control than to absorb from a paragraph.
This is a small demonstration built with real chart tooling but illustrative numbers. It’s the template for the kind of interactive piece I want to build here — next with real, sourced data.