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For the statistics used on our Power of Partnerships site, we chose:

Homes

  • The equivalent number of UK homes powered for a year by interconnector imported energy, 1 Jan 2018 to present
  • The equivalent number of UK homes powered for a year by interconnector imported energy, 1 Jan 2023 to present

Cars

  • The equivalent number of cars taken off the road for a year thanks to CO2 savings from interconnector flows, 1 Jan 2018 to present
  • The equivalent number of cars taken off the road for a year thanks to CO2 savings from interconnector flows, 1 Jan 2023 to present

Carbon offset

  • Tonnes of Carbon avoided by interconnector imported energy from 1 Jan 2018 to present
  • Tonnes of Carbon avoided by interconnector imported energy from 1 Jan 2023 to present

  All our data is accurate from within the last 2 weeks. 

 

Methodology 

  1. We extracted aggregated generation by technology using Python APIs 
  2. Found the share of energy consumption per fuel type for every country
  3. Categorized energy consumption into Zero Carbon, Fossil Fuel, Biomass & Waste for every country and interconnector Zero Carbon is categorised as: Wind (Onshore, Offshore & Embedded), Solar, Nuclear, Hydro Pumped Storage, Hydro-Run-of-River and Poundage, Hydro Water Reservoir and Other Renewable Fossil is categorised as: Gas (CCGT, OCGT), Hard Coal, Oil, Peat & Other Bio is categorised as: Biomass & Waste 
  4. Found carbon intensity of a country, then carbon savings from interconnector flows
  5. Homes powered: each home is assumed to consume 2,900kWh per year, as per Ofgem's Typical Domestic Consumption Value up to 2023 (Latest energy price cap announced by Ofgem | Ofgem)
  6. Cars CO2 emissions: assuming average car emissions factors as per Government estimates (Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2019 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk))

 

Sources

  1. GB transmission connected generation and imports - ELEXON 
  2. EU generation - ENTSO-E 
  3. Solar generation - Sheffield Solar 
  4. Distribution connected wind generation - NG ESO Data Explorer 
  5. Other distribution connected generation = Total Demand (ESO) - Generation and imports 
  6. FES 5 Year forecast for 2019 used to categorize in zero-carbon, fossil fuels, biomass and waste  
  7. GB carbon intensity - ESO 
  8. FR, NL, BE, NO carbon intensity - MF calculation using RTE Fuel Carbon Intensity Factor RTE Carbon Intensity Factors: 
  • Coal : 0.85 t CO2 eq /MWh 
  • Oil: 0.675 t CO2 eq/MWh 
  • Gas: 0.3294 t CO2 eq/MWh 
  • Biofuel: 0.12 t CO2 eq/MWh

 

Calculations

1. Share of energy from Generation Category consumed in each hour in a country: 

  • Zero Carbon Generation Share = Total Zero Carbon energy / Total energy (sum of all generation) 
  • Fossil Generation Share = Total Fossil energy / Total energy (sum of all generation) 
  • Biomass generation Share = Total Biomass energy / Total energy (sum of all generation) 

2. Carbon Emissions for European Countries: 

Carbon Intensity Factors for different fuel types are from RTE 

  • Carbon emissions from Coal = Coal Carbon Intensity Factor x Coal Generation
  • Carbon emissions from Oil = Oil Carbon Intensity Factor x Oil Generation 
  • Carbon emissions from Gas = Gas Carbon Intensity Factor x Gas Generation 
  • Carbon emissions from Biomass = Biomass Carbon Intensity Factor x Biomass Generation 
  • Carbon emissions from Waste= Biomass Carbon Intensity Factor x Waste Generation 
  • Carbon emissions from Other = Oil Carbon Intensity Factor x Other Generation
  • Total Carbon Emissions (Mt) = Sum of above carbon emissions / 106

3. Hourly Carbon intensity of a country:

  • GB Carbon intensity is retrieved from ESO
  • Carbon intensity from European Countries is calculated as: 
    • Carbon Intensity (g/kWh) = (Total Carbon Emissions (Mt) / Total Generation (MWh))*109

4. Carbon savings from interconnectors:

  • (Carbon intensity of country A - Carbon intensity of Country B) x flow from country B to country A in mTCO2e
  • Example: (Carbon intensity of GB - Carbon intensity of FR) x flow from FR to GB
  • The calculation for CO2 avoided is done based on hourly data and then aggregated to get the total

 

Net Flow:

  • Net Flow = Imports - Exports (if exports are shown as a positive value, if negative then Net Flow is the sum of Imports and Exports

 

Assumptions

Some of the assumptions are listed below while the assumptions for different appliances are shown in the table below.