Price spike (at the cap)
Research notes
Figures are for London unless they say otherwise.
What happened
- Thu 22 Nov: London peaked at 35.0p at 16:00 (Agile's 35p cap), average 17.8p, lowest 10.5p at 03:30; highest anywhere 35.0p in Eastern England.
Likely causes
- Thu 22 Nov, 16:00 (London's peak): wind 3.5GW (8% of supply), solar 0GW, gas 23.3GW (49%), imports 0.9GW, total supply 47.2GW. Over the day wind averaged 3.8GW; the 2018 average was 5.8GW (17%). Source: NESO historic generation mix. (figures confirmed by source; link to prices is inference)
- The peak came in the early evening on Thu 22 Nov, when demand is highest and there is no solar. (inference)
- Elexon market index: Thu 22 Nov averaged £81.30/MWh with a high of £169.27 at 16:30. Source: Elexon market index, Thu 22 Nov. (confirmed by source; a short-term index, not the day-ahead auction Agile follows)
Wider context that week
- Nothing notable found for that week.
Confidence
Medium. The grid figures fit the prices, but no report found names a cause for this date.
Gaps
- No news report or official write-up found that ties this date to a cause; the causes above are from the data.
- Elexon's system warnings feed has no entries before mid-2023, so warnings for these days couldn't be checked there.